Hey look! I finished a story! GO ME!

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Charlie's Angels ended a half an hour later. I yawned and stood up to stretch. My cell phone chirped, and I looked at the readout. It was Morelli.

"Cupcake."

"Hi Joe," I said.

"Are you still with Ranger?"

"Yep, we just finished watching Charlie's Angels."

"When are you going to be done with this babysitting job? Bob wants to see you."

"I think Ranger's sister is coming home at midnight. Will that be too late?"

Morelli sighed audibly. "I guess not, but you better make this up to me, Cupcake."

"How about a night of wild gorilla sex?" I asked.

"Throw in the Japanese triplets and you've got a deal."

"You got it," I said, and then I disconnected.

"Wild gorilla sex?" Ranger asked me from the couch.

I looked down at him. "Yes, that and Japanese triplets."

Ranger laughed and stood up. He stretched and looked at his watch. "Only half an hour and then I'm out of here." He picked up the popcorn bowl and ambled into the kitchen. I followed.

"To the batcave?" I asked.

Ranger set the popcorn bowl on the counter and looked at me. "Yeah," he said, leaning against the counter, "The Batcave."

"I'm going to have to see that one of these days."

He smiled. "One of these days."

We stared at each other for a moment.

"Well? Aren't you going to kiss?"

I jumped about three feet in the air. Ranger glared at the doorway, where Jazz stood, toothbrush hanging out of her mouth. She shook her head and brushed past me to the sink. "Christ on a stick, you two. You're like, making out with your eyes. The least you could do is give me something to tell all my friends at school. Now I'll just have to make something up." She spat in the sink and rinsed her mouth out.

"You won't make anything up," Ranger said to her.

Jazz grinned at him. "Sure I will." She gazed out into space and tapped her chin. "Let's see…should I catch you making out in the bathroom? On the dining room table? Or maybe you were looking for a popcorn kernel in between the couch cushions…"

Ranger rubbed his forehead. "Felix woke up?"

Jazz's smile widened. "Yup. He came into my roomwith stories aboutyour adventures with the popcorn kernel."

I was mortally embarrassed. "Uh…you aren't going to tell Celia, are you?" I asked Jazz. I really didn't want to be known as the girl Uncle Ric brought home to make out with while he was supposed to be babysitting.

Jazz scratched her stomach. "Well…that depends…are you two finished watching your movie?"

"Your mom said no TV after 10," Ranger said.

Jazz shrugged. "Oh well. I guess there's nothing to distract me from thinking about how I'm going to tell mom the popcorn kernel story…" she started to walk out of the kitchen.

"Fine," Ranger said, causing Jazz to pause, "You can watch more TV but the instant you hear the garage door opening you will turn it off and go upstairs. In return, Celia won't hear about any of this."

Jazz smiled. "It's a deal, Ricky. Now, if you don't mind, I've got some VH1 to watch."

We watched Jazz disappeared into the family room. Ranger shook his head. "I can't believe I'm being blackmailed by a fourteen-year-old."

"It wasn't your best moment." I said.

Ranger glanced at me. I just smiled at him.

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We were sitting on the couch with Jazz, watching 100 Greatest Teen Actors. I was in the middle with Ranger on my right and Jazz on my left. It was a commercial, and Jazz leaned over towards me.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" she whispered.

"Yep," I said, thinking about Morelli.

"Is he hot?"

"Best ass in Trenton," I said.

"What's his name?"

"Joe."

"What does he do?"

"He's a cop."

"Do you live with him?"

"Sometimes."

"So…if you have a hot boyfriend who has a good job and lets you stay with him…why do you flirt with Uncle Ric so much?"

"Uh…well…I…don't," I said, glancing at Ranger. He was smiling, and it didn't look like he was going to help me out here.

Jazz laughed at me. "Yeah right. You're like, totally in love with him."

"Ah…no," I said. This was getting kind of awkward. Yeah, I do love Ranger, but not in the way Jazz was thinking. (AN don't all you Babes come and kill me now, I'm just trying to stay true to the books).

"Denial," Jazz said, un-muting the TV.

Just then I heard the garage door opening. Jazz switched off the TV and bolted out of the room.

"Honies, I'm home!" Celia called from the kitchen. Ranger and I got up from the couch and found Celia making coffee in the kitchen. She smiled at us.

"Did you two have fun?" she asked.

"Oh absolutely," Ranger said, "I got to break up a fight between James and a big fat kid, Erin has boyfriends sneaking in her window, the house almost burned down, Jazz might get expelled from school, and you need to buy a new monopoly set because the one you have now is completely ruined. And my hair smells like strawberries."

Celia cracked up. "Ricardo you are such a good brother. If it weren't for you it would have been me who had to break up the fight between James and the fat kid. And then I would have to tell Erin that if she has boys coming through her window she should be paying them." She sobered up in a split second. "As for Jazz, I have no idea what to do about her. I'm thinking of threatening to send her to military school."

Ranger nodded. "That's probably a good idea. She needs to know when enough is enough."

Celia sighed. "Yeah."

We were silent for a few seconds.

"Well," Celia said clapping her hands together, "I'm sure you two are exhausted. Thank for babysitting, Ric, I really appreciate it." She gave Ranger a hug and showed us to the door. "It was wonderful to meet you Stephanie. I hope I get to see more of you."

I smiled at her. "I'm sure you'll get to hear more about me. Just read the front page every time something explodes, and you'll see my name."

Celia laughed. "Ric has told me some stories. I'll be sure to check the paper every morning."

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Ranger and I were in the car, driving away from Celia's house. We were in our normal silence—a huge difference from two hours ago. I glanced over at Ranger.

"Well that was fun," I said.

Ranger wrenched himself out of his zone and grinned at me. "Yeah, babe, it was. We should do it more often."

"Yeah right. I'm never babysitting those kids again, not even if my life depended on it."

Ranger chuckled. "My brother is going away with his wife for the weekend in a couple of weeks. Maybe I'll volunteer us to babysit for him."

I snorted. "You better not, Ranger, or I swear to God you'll pay."

"You wouldn't be able to do anything to me, Babe."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Oh?" I knew he was right, I knew he was the primo bounty-hunter, fighter, and finder, but hey, I was provoked."

"Yeah."

"Bring it on, beyotch!" I said. I probably shouldn't have. I had an excuse. I was tired and hungry, and I was dealing with the fact that I just met a family possibly more dysfunctional than my own.

"You don't know who you're going up against. And I still have to get you back for the Apusenja thing."

I winced. I was hoping he would forget that. "Yeah, well, you're not gonna, no way, no how, I'll even put bullets in my gun."

"I'm up for anything that gets you to put bullets in your gun," Ranger said.

I glared at him, but he'd already gone back into his zone. I sighed and turned to the window, thinking of ways I could get him back for tonight.

Zee Ehnd