TA DA! I finally updated! I'm sorry it took so long, but don't expect another chapter any time soon. This whole next week is IT week, which means...lots and lots of work. We do get early release, so I might be able to write some more. I am also working on some more Ranger & Jamie stories, and I'm almost finished with those. So here is chapter six.

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"Stephanie? Are you okay?" Use of name. Probably envisioning horrible things.

"Jamie just called me and told me to stay away from Mike's Auto so I guess she's not being held captive," I said breathlessly. My head was swimming and I had no idea what was going on. I couldn't even understand what Ranger was saying to me. All of a sudden there was a rap on the passenger side window and I shrieked in surprise. Jamie shook her head and climbed in.

"Stephanie? What was that? Are you okay?" Ranger yelled over the phone.

"Erm…I…Uh…" I was just gaping at Jamie. Looking grim, she took the phone from my hand.

"Heya Ranger, what's up?" Silence. "Yeah it was a trap. I just found out about it yesterday and it took me a while to find out where you and Steph were." More silence. "Okay." She disconnected, sighed, and slouched back in her seat.

I was still gaping at her. Wasn't she being held for ransom? Jamie looked at me and smiled tiredly. "How much was I worth this time?" she asked.

"Eight hundred thousand," I said automatically.

Jamie laughed. "Nice. Ranger said to meet him back at the office. I'll explain everything there."

Without another word I pulled out of the parking lot and headed back toward the office.

Ranger, Jordan, and Tank were waiting for us in the underground garage. Tank pounced on Jamie the instant she got out of the car, pulling her into a bear hug.

"Ulk," said Jamie, arms pinned to her sides.

"Jesus kid, you scared us," Tank said, squeezing her until she squeaked.

"You're going to break her ribs," said Jordan. He couldn't stop grinning.

"A little too late for that," gasped Jamie once Tank let her go.

Ranger had his arms crossed over his chest and stared at Jamie. "Care to explain?"

Jamie looked really tired. There were dark circles under her eyes, and she looked seriously hung-over. The circles looked more like black eyes. Bruises dotted her arms and she was holding her sides. Probably Tank did break some ribs, but from what she said I guess some were already broken. She winced at Ranger's intense stare. "Can't I sleep first?" Ranger shook his head. I glared at Ranger. Stephanie Plum, protective big-sister to the rescue.

"Let her sleep. She can explain later."

Ranger stared at me for a second, probably wondering weather he should overrule me or face my wrath. Finally he sighed and turned back to Jamie. "Fine. But first thing in the morning, you're explaining."

She saluted. "Aye, aye, captain!" she turned to me. "So what room are you staying in?"

I took Jamie up to the apartment I was sharing with Ranger. I slid the card-key into the lock and opened the door to the sound of cartoons.

"Did you get her, did you get her?" Jazz came bouncing into the foyer. She yelled happily when she saw Jamie and jumped for her.

"Ah, not now kiddo," said Jamie, holding Jazz back, "I gotta 'bout five broken ribs and a mother of a hangover. What I need now is sleep."

"Fine, then. Was it fun being held ransom?"

"I wasn't being held ransom. It was a trap. I'll tell you tomorrow if you make me pancakes," said Jamie and she wandered off into the bedroom.

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The next morning (well, afternoon really, seeing as we couldn't get Jamie out of bed before noon) saw Ranger, Tank, Jordan, and me sitting around a card table watching Jamie make her way through a stack of pancakes. She had refused to speak before she ate. Ranger had already driven Jazz to school, much to her protest. The pancakes disappeared with alarming speed and Jamie sat back and sighed, stretching her bruised limbs.

"Well?" Ranger asked.

"It was a trap, obviously," Jamie said, "The picture you received was from a couple years ago when Jack got a hold of me. I can't remember why he took that picture but oh well."

"I thought you were in South America," I said.

Jamie grinned at me. She looked a lot better this morning. Not hung over. "I was. I was in the Southern region of North America. I was in Georgia, testing moonshine."

I rolled my eyes. I should have guessed.

Jamie's expression turned serious. "That isn't the point now. Jack is still out there. And since you didn't show up last night, he'll know I escaped and be really hacked off. Not his best mood, ya know."

"Ah," I said.

Jamie told us about the old warehouse where Jack chained her to a wall and about driving all the way there from Georgia. Ranger looked at her and I could see a little anger in his eyes.

"You should have called one of us. We all thought you were unconscious somewhere and spent a lot of time and money looking for you."

Jamie looked ashamed and stared down at the table. "I know. I was stupid. Not to mention drunk out of my mind." She looked back up at Ranger. "But you weren't all wrong. I was unconscious for most of the time."

Ranger still looked a little angry but didn't press the issue. "Where do you think Jack would have gone when he realized Stephanie wasn't coming?"

Jamie leaned back in her chair. "He probably would have gone back to the wear-house. But once he found me gone he'd have known that I ratted him out…so he's probably out of the country by now."

"You think?" asked Ranger, raising an eyebrow.

Jamie shrugged. "Either that or going to Trenton to find someone else to hold ransom. The last time I talked to him he said he was going to kill me and Stephanie both." She leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. "Who knows why though, she never did anything to him."

That was true. I didn't do anything to him. He destroyed three of my pillows but I never did anything to him.

"Probably it's because he hates everything about me so he wants to kill everyone I've ever so much as glanced at," Jamie said bitterly.

"So what do you think we should do?" Ranger asked Jamie. She knew Summer the best so she would know what to do.

"I think we should go back to Trenton and chill until Jack shows himself again."

"Do you honestly think he'll go back to Trenton?" Ranger asked her.

"No, but he's definitely not going to stay here, so what's the point of us staying?"

Ranger stared at Jamie for a beat. "I guess we're going back to Trenton, then."

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Ranger picked Jazz up from school right after our meeting so he could spend some quality time alone with her before we left. The Merry Men went off to do whatever the hell they do and Jamie and I retreated back to the apartment. Jamie sighed heavily and slumped onto the couch, lying back with her arm over her eyes. I flopped into an armchair.

"Ranger is pissed," Jamie mumbled, "I'm going to get my head bitten off."

"Do you really think he's that mad? At least you're okay." I had noticed it too. I've never seen Ranger really mad before, but during the meeting I could feel theanger seeping from him.

"That's not the point," Jamie said, looking at me, "The point is that I got to Miami at four in the morning and was too stupid to call one of you. Ranger doesn't like it when his employees are stupid, especially when it's a life or death situation. He thought I was being held ransom, and he was worried about me, when in reality I was drunk off my rocker and going after Jack. If I'm lucky, I won't be fired."

"Are you still one of his employees? I thought you just had a job when you were in Trenton the first time, and when you left I just assumed you quit."

Jamie grinned at me. "Are you kidding me? I've been a Rangeman employee since I was eighteen. I was Ranger's secret weapon when we were going undercover."

"Wow."

"Yeah, well, don't be too impressed because I might not have the job for very much longer. Ranger doesn't often hand out second chances."

"I remember Ranger telling me that if I didn't carry my gun around, he'd fire me," I said, thinking about a while ago when I worked for him.

"I never had a problem with the gun thing. Mostly I got in trouble for leaving tacks on his seat or something."

"He's a hard boss."

"No freaking kidding. I am dead meat when Ranger gets back."

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Ranger got back that night and immediately called Jamie into his office. We had been watching Ghostbusters in the apartment with Jordan and Tank. When the call came in Jamie looked like she was on her way to death row. She sighed heavily, told us it was nice knowing us, and left, slamming the door behind her.

I looked over at Tank and Jordan. "You don't think he'll be too hard on her, do you?"

Jordan looked grim. "I'm not entirely sure, but Jamie looked pretty nauseous when she was on the phone with him, so I'm guessing he was pretty mad."

Tank nodded in agreement. "He doesn't like using unnecessary effort and money. And he also doesn't like to worry."

Eek.

Jamie's POV

Ah. Shit. I was just sitting on the couch in the Rangeman apartment with Stephanie when the boss himself called my cell.

"Howdy," I said.

"In my office. Now." Ranger growled. And then he hung up. Shee-it.

I stood up and looked at Stephanie, Jordan, and Tank. "Well, it was nice knowing you all," I said, and then I left.

I pressed the button for the elevator. Ranger's office was on the sixth floor. We were on the fourth. I could have taken the stairs, except I wanted to take as much time as possible getting there. That probably would make Ranger more mad, but…The elevator doors opened and I stepped inside. Ranger has a computer in his office so he could monitor all the security cameras, and he could probably see me banging my head against the elevator wall. After an eternity, there was the tell-tale bing that announced the arrival at floor six. Wonderful.

I stood outside of Ranger's office door, debating weather to knock or bolt. I've been lectured by Ranger before, but somehow this was different. I finally came to the conclusion to knock, and waited for Ranger to say "come in" before opening the door. I wasn't really scared of him. I just didn't like it when he lectured me. We've had our share of fights, but we always got over them. Ranger doesn't like grudges. So I knew that after this chewing-out I would be home free.

I took a deep breath and went in, nodding to Ranger before sitting in one of the leather office chairs in front of his desk. He was sitting in his big leather swivel chair, leaned back with his elbows resting on the arm rests, fingers steepled together. He looked very badass in a tight black T-shirt and black cargos. I was still wearing what I was wearing back in Georgia. Jeans, and tank top, and a jacket. Ranger knew I knew what was coming, and he knew that I knew how stupid I had been. And that was a good thing, because then he didn't have to go through the whole Do you know why I called you here? dealio. The silence stretched by. I was sitting there, staring at my hands. I hated when Ranger was pissed at me. It made me feel embarrassed and nervous.

"I've never pegged you as an idiot, Jamie," Ranger began, and I jumped about three feet in the air.

"Me neither," I answered, "but I'm kinda rethinking that."

Ranger stared at me, obviously not amused. Crap. I just fed the fire.

"As I was saying," he continued, "I've never thought of you as incompetent or stupid, ever. The reason I hired you was because even though you were so young, you were smart and fearless and you had good instincts. But the story you told me today marked you as a thoughtless, selfish, over confidant moron. You thought you could just take Summer on, without even bothering to contact me or Stephanie to let us know you weren't dead."

Ouch. So far he's called me an idiot, stupid, selfish, over confident, and a moron. He's on a roll now. I opened my mouth to try to justify my actions: I was drunk out of my mind; but Ranger interrupted.

"Don't you even think about using the fact that you were drunk as an excuse," Ranger said, narrowing his eyes, "I've seen you do things shit-faced that I wouldn't even have done sober."

I held back a smile. It was true. I've pulled some pretty wicked stunts when I've been drunk.

The rest of the lecture passed by painfully slowly. I was called a few more synonyms of "stupid", and wondered if Ranger had studied a thesaurus before calling me in here. I probably would have voiced that out loud if Ranger hadn't been so pissed.

"You can keep the job," Ranger said finally, "But if you do something like this again, don't expect me to give you another chance."

I sighed in relief and looked up at Ranger, smiling a little. "I wasn't really expecting another chance, anyway."

A smile twitched at the corners of Ranger's mouth. Hurray. He wasn't mad anymore. "I'm only giving you another chance now because this is a one time thing, and it would be a bigger loss to me if I let you go."

"What, you don't think I wouldn't help you out even if I wasn't an official employee?" I asked him. I had done numerous jobs for him before he actually signed me on as a Rangeman employee.

This time the smile was clearly evident. "Probably, but I get more insurance when you get hurt, if you're an employee."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh so this is about the money and not the love for me? I should have guessed."

I stood up and turned to leave, but right when I got to the door I was spun around and crushed into a giant bear-hug.

"You scared the hell out of me, Jamie," Ranger said, his voice muffled by my hair, "You know I hate when I get pictures of you beaten bloody in the mail."

I smiled into Ranger chest and hugged him back. "Yeah, I know, but this time I didn't know about it. I only found out when I called Cassie and she told me I was kidnapped."

I pulled back and looked up at Ranger. He was smiling. "I bet that was a big surprise."

I snorted. "Don't you know it. For a second there I thought I was a clone or something."

Ranger laughed and pushed me towards the door. "Go get some sleep, Jamie, we leave early tomorrow."

My hand was on the doorknob when I stopped, turned, grabbed Ranger's shirt, pulled his face down to mine, and kissed him for all I was worth. I pulled back before Ranger could take control, grinned at him, and left.

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So...yea.