Title: It's all about living life
Chapter 16: Set…
Author: Ann (Chrystalsandsnowflakes)
Rating: (G to NC-17): G
Spoilers/Warnings: Takes place in the future, so after EOT
Summary: Steph goes inside the bar.
Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine, I just play with them

Thank you for the reviews! I know that I make some errors in spelling and grammar. Sorry about that, English is not my mother tongue. If anybody wants to become my beta reader, please let me know! Other than that: hope you enjoy!

"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?

Set…

"Mmm," was all that I could come up with as an answer. I mean, what kind of an answer was that from Ranger. Where they insured, or not? On the other hand, I had asked the question, and he basically had said not to worry. So I'd better not. I looked doubtful at Ranger one last time, but then decided to let it go.

"Alright, I'm ready to go inside."

"Hang on, you need to wear a wire."

"Oh, yeah, that's right." There was a moment of awkward silence while Ranger rummaged through the glove compartment and took out the box containing the wire. I was wondering if he would put it on me himself, or if he would let me do it. He seemed to sense my uneasiness and gave the box to me. Despite a feeling of relieve I also felt disappointed. I mean, it's always good to have a nice man touching your body, right? I quickly put on the wire and looked at Ranger again. His pupils were slightly dilated and his eyes were fixed on my breasts, right where the little microphone had disappeared between them. I felt a warm glow going through me, and a red colour was probably on my cheeks. Ranger's head snapped up and he smiled a little at me. I almost jumped out of the car.

Outside the car I took a few calming breaths and smiled a little at myself. I know I shouldn't say this, but it felt good to be able to capture the attention from Ranger like that. I whispered a quick "thanks" to my breasts, realised that the wire was there, and probably turned on, and added a soft "shit". Than I wondered what the people at the other end of the line were thinking. Probably laughing already… Oh well, glad I could entertain someone tonight. I quickly checked my hair and walked towards the bar. Let's do this.

The bar was already quite full, and there was some loud music playing from a jukebox. I let my eyes adjust to the dimmed light, and saw that my target was sitting at the bar, watching a sports game on the tv hanging in a corner. I walked over to the bar and saw that Ranger had already somehow found his way in and was sitting in a corner. You guessed it, with his back to the wall and facing the exit. I slowly sat myself on a seat and saw that Joe's eyes were drawn to my ears like flies to honey. Okay, Ranger's hunch was obviously right. The man wanted the earrings bad. I gave him a quick smile and said hello. He greeted back and kept staring at my ears. Okay… I ordered myself a glass of red wine (better to start slow) and he immediately leaned forward to me and said "please, allow me". Alright, the man already had had a couple of beers, I could smell his breath a mile away. I managed a thanks over my impulse to turn my head away and kept smiling. And there the eyes went again, towards my ears. It didn't matter what I would have worn tonight, even naked or in plastic bags, this guy only had eyes for the earrings.

"I'm sorry to stare at you like that, I just love your earrings." No shit.

"Well, thanks. I saw them once and bought them immediately. I was told that there was a matching necklace and everything but I've never seen anything like this again." Okay, this was pretty fast-forward, but I figured that he only had tunnel vision by now, so he wouldn't notice.

"Oh, really?" Nope, blinded by the bling-bling.

"Yeah, it is a real pity really, because I would love to have more of this design. It's quite something isn't it?" I almost pee my pants wearing these things, they are soooo expensive. No way I would ever want to wear a whole set of this stuff!

"Maybe I can help you," he said.

"Really? How?" Let's see how he sold this story.

"Well, you see, I'm a sales agent for a jewellery factory, and I have just the things that you have been looking for!" Okay, not half bad.

"You do?" I pretended I was absolutely thrilled by this revelation, and that I had no doubt whatsoever about his story.

"Yeah lady, it's your lucky day. I just got this set today that was returned to a store because the customer couldn't find a matching set of earrings. And they are no longer in production so we took it back." Wow, the guy had a great fantasy.

"No, really?" I was trying for the 'I'm soooo baffled' tone, and I think it was working. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Ranger coughing and trying to keep his drink inside. Hey, I should get an award for this acting performance; I can compete with the best!

"Yeah, I just picked it up today. It's in my car. We can look at it right now, if you want to." Wow, the man didn't waste any time getting rid of that stuff.

"Oh, you would do that for me?" I batted my eyelashes at him.

"No problem, lady. And because they are no longer produced we almost feared we couldn't sell this half set at all, so I can cut you a very nice deal." Wow, he wanted to get rid of them bad!

"Oh, that would be sooo nice of you!" I babbled on. Ranger looked almost purple by now.

"Okay, let's go then," he said. We got up and walked to the exit together.