Title: It's all about living life
Chapter 15: Game…
Author: Ann (Chrystalsandsnowflakes)
Rating: (G to NC-17): G
Spoilers/Warnings: Takes place in the future, so after EOT
Summary: Ranger explains the job.
Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine, I just play with them

It's been ages, I know! Sorry about that. Big applause to all the writers who manage to combine jobs, families and writing, I unfortunately haven't mastered that art yet… J Please review!

He turned around and opened the door, to reveal Ranger standing there. I couldn't quite read the look on his face, but somehow he didn't seem very pleased to see Joe at my place.

"Manoso."

"Morelli." Joe turned around and gave me a last smile and wink and left. I couldn't help but smile back, because Joe had read the mood just right. He knew that I wasn't after a relationship with Ranger, at least not now. The dressing up was for the job and not for Ranger. But that didn't mean that he wouldn't try to get Ranger off balance, even if it was just for old time's sake.

Game…

Ranger watched as Morelli exited the door and closed it softly behind him. In my mind I could hear Morelli chuckle in the hallway. Then he turned to me with an unreadable expression on his face. He looked me up and down, as I looked him up and down. The last time I had seen him, had been when somebody had kicked his ass. Now all the bruising was gone and it looked like he had spent some time outside in the sun. In summary, he looked excellent again. Today he was wearing a black pair of trousers and a nice loose hanging black shirt with buttons. He had the top couple of buttons open, and it revealed a small golden necklace around his neck. The sleeves were rolled up to just above his elbows, showing part of his strong arms and a bracelet around his wrist. Also gold. I didn't know yet what the plan was for tonight, but I had a pretty good idea from looking at Ranger. I guessed that Ranger would be the inside man, his responsibility would be to safeguard my body in case of any emergency. Either that, or he would play my boyfriend with whom I would get into a fight, but somehow that scenario didn't seem likely right now.

"Hi." I said.

"Babe." Was his response. I mean: this man could baffle you with his rhetoric skills.

"So, what's the plan for tonight?" I asked, while I turned around to look for my chosen purse. Let's see if my impression from earlier was right.

"Team at the front, team at the back door, one man inside." Like I said, the man gives speeches for free.

"So who is the target?"

"I have the file in the car."

"Great, let's go."

He held the door open for me, and I hopped in. I grabbed the file from the dashboard and started reading. I hadn't heard from Joe Freeman before, but apparently Joe felt that if he didn't want to pay for something, he could just take it for free. From his long list of arrests I could see that he had started small, taking some household items like a blender, an icemachine and a breadmaker (he must be quite a cook then) moving on to more expensive items like mp3 players, pocket pc's and other electronics. If you saw the full list by now, it almost looked like he was decorating a house. However, lately he must have gotten a girlfriend, because his last theft had been a handful of expensive jewellery from a well-known jewellery store in town. He had posed as a customer, wanting to buy something "special" and when the salesperson had brought him a couple of examples of their top products he had shown his way of paying: a gun. Then he simply grabbed a handful and had fled the store. He had managed to grab two necklaces, a ring and three bracelets, total value over 1 million dollars! That was the reason why this guy had ended up on Rangers stack. It was believed that the goods were still in his ownership, so Ranger wanted to move fast. Probably he would get a nice fat cheque from the jeweller's insurance company if he returned the goods without damage…

I smiled when I looked at the pictures of the items that he had taken. The guy had great taste! He seemed to have a preference for modern design, with large square stones and smaller ones around it. Looking more closely now, I could see he actually managed to grab a whole set of matching items. One of the necklaces, the ring and one of the bracelets all had the same design: all made from platinum, all having at least one large square diamond in them, surrounded by smaller diamonds. All he was missing were the earrings! I couldn't help but chuckle. Poor guy, no woman would buy the set without the earrings.

I looked up to find Ranger looking at me intently. We had somehow arrived at this nice bar which Joe apparently visited regularly. Ranger had parked the car in the shadow and I could see another Rangemen vehicle parked about 50 metres away. The front team. The back team was probably invisible. To me anyway.

"Something funny, Babe?"

"Did you see that he grabbed a matching set without the earrings?" I asked, with a big smile on my face. I wondered if Ranger had realised what that meant.

"So?" Obviously he hadn't realised what that meant.

"What woman do you think will want to buy a nice set, if she can't get earrings to match? No wonder he hasn't sold any of it." I said. Ranger looked like he was thinking about smiling. But then his look changed and I could feel chills going down my spine. Something was up.

"Maybe the woman who already has the earrings?" He said, and pulled out a little box which he opened. It revealed a set of platinum earrings with large square diamonds. The diamonds were dangling free, attached to the platinum in one corner. Around the large diamond, smaller square cut diamonds were sparkling. They were absolutely stunning. And probably absolutely unaffordable for any normal person. Like me. Okay, maybe not me as in normal, but me as in my income bracket. Happy now?

A soft "wow" escaped my lips, and this time Ranger really smiled.

"You're going in, wearing the earrings. He will notice that and we think that he will try to get you outside, either to sell you the rest or to grab the earrings from you," Ranger explained tonights plan. I almost felt a little bit deflated. I wasn't the main attraction tonight, I was just the person carrying the real thing, namely the earrings. Ranger, as always, read my mind perfectly.

"Babe, you look stunning. With or without them." I looked at the earrings again, and I suddenly realised their value.

"Are these insured?" I asked Ranger. Better to ask upfront, right? The corners or Ranger's mouth went up.

"It's been taken care of." Now why didn't that answer satisfy me?