Title: It's all about living life
Chapter 17: Match(ed)…
Author: Ann (Chrystalsandsnowflakes)
Rating: (G to NC-17): G
Spoilers/Warnings: Takes place in the future, so after EOT
Summary: The takedown, Stephanie style…
Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine, I just play with them

Matched

I assumed that all the guys on the other side of the wire would have heard the conversation, so I didn't feel worried at all when I followed the guy outside. Stupid me, I should have known things never go nice and quiet with me! As soon as we got outside, a lot of things happened all at once. I saw some movement out of the corner of my eye (Ranger's guys) but then there was also movement in front of me. It was Joey. He suddenly had a knife in one hand, and my hair in the other.

"Lady, those earrings are exactly…" he started, breathing beer smelling breath into my ear. Yeew! But then he saw the guys from Ranger standing around him, guns drawn, and realized he had a problem. And in stead of turning himself over (which any normal person would have done, facing 3 large men in the dark) he apparently was still blinded by the earrings. So the hand in my hair was suddenly half across my neck, grabbing one of my ears!

"One step closer, and the lady loses the ear!" Oh…. My…. God….! Why did this always happen to me? I had been threatened before, but never ever in my life did a guy threaten to cut my ear off, because there was a something-carat diamond earring in it. I could see Ranger to my left, and shot him a murderous look. He was, after all, the man who came up with this plan. And he was soooo gonna pay for this plan.

I could see that there was a lot of silent communication going on between the guys. Probably they weren't briefed for a situation like this. Probably they thought it would be a simple takedown. Probably they should have thought twice, it is me we're talking about! I just tried to stand as quiet as I could. Not only did I not want to loose an ear, he also still held a piece of hair in his hand, I also didn't want to have to make another visit to Mr. Alexander after this was over. I like my hair, despite it being unruly, wild and sometimes completely out of control, when push came to shove, I liked it. It belonged to me. And let's not forget the careful preparation that went into this night. My hair was falling down in nice smooth curls, and I was not about to let some guy ruin my good hair day. I was getting pissed off. We were all just standing there: Joey with the knife to my ear, pulling me against him, and we were surrounded by 3 big guys in black.

"Would you mind? Your pulling my hair." Oookaaay… Did that just come from my mouth. Probably, by the look on the faces from the guys around me.

"Shut up!" That was Joey. He pulled me closer to him, which provoked some movement towards him from Ranger. Joey half twisted me with hand in hair and knife to ear and all to face Ranger.

"Hold it, big guy, one more step and the ear is gone." Ranger had an unreadable look on his face. I could feel the knife painfully against the top of my ear. Damn, damn, damn.

"Let her go." Wow, that will really win him over.

"No way, she has the earrings, she stays with me." Okay, you got to hand it to the guy: no matter what happened, he stayed focused.

"Listen, if it is the earrings you want, you can have them," I said. I figured that that was why we were all here anyway. Ranger and his guys could jump his neck also when he was in possession of the earrings, as long as I wasn't attached to them, right? Right, I figured you would agree.

"Smart girl. But first I need Mr. Manoso and his people to move away. I'm not stupid. As long as I have you, I have nothing to fear from them. I know they would never do anything to harm you." Wow, the guy was well-informed… I tried to send out the right vibes to Ranger. Namely: back off, I love my ears! But they didn't move. They just stood there. By now, a few people who had been passing us had stopped and were now watching the whole scene. I could hear someone saying that they called the police. Perfect, the last thing I needed was for Trenton finest to witness another of my episodes. I sent a small praying upwards, hoping that Joe wouldn't get the call, but knew it was almost impossible.

"One last warning. I said: back off or the lady looses the ear!" Joey was getting impatient, and so was I. Why weren't they doing anything? Oh, wait, maybe because any move they made would result in me losing my ear. Unless they backed off of course. More silent communication, and slowly they started to take a few steps back. The guns went down, and they were now standing at about 15 feet away from us. Joey relaxed a little bit, and I was glad, the knife wasn't that close to my ear anymore.

"Let me take those earrings out for you." I was trying to be helpful. Burg upbringing and everything… I started to raise my hands when I saw movement from Ranger. He had moved further to the left, and was now standing almost behind me. Joey apparently saw it too, because the knife moved and he had a chunk of my hair in his hands. What! And again he twisted me to face Ranger, and this time my heel was stuck in the ground, so I felt a sharp pain going through my ankle as it twisted. Owwww! Why me!

"Hold it! I swear her ear is next!" And that was when I had enough. I literally felt myself boil over. Here I was, standing in some parking lot getting threatened by a drunken guy who was chopping away at my hair! I couldn't let that happen. So I lifted my good food and put the heel firmly down on his toes. I think I hit a toe pretty hard, because I could hear a crack…

"No… (stomp) cutting… (stomp) the…. (stomp) hair…. (stomp)" I gritted out through my teeth. Suddenly Joey was on the ground howling in pain, as Hal was sitting on top of him and cuffing him. I looked at my poor hair, trying to assess the damage, when Ranger materialized at my side.

"Babe." Was all he said. And I boiled over a second time.

"You!" I yelled at him, and he actually flinched.

"Look at what he did to my hair! Do you know how long it will take to get this back? Just when the Fisher Cat damage was gone, now this! How could you think that this was a good plan? He practically sliced my ears off!" I was taking a step towards Ranger to do the stabbing in the chest with finger routine when I felt sharp pains shooting up my ankle. I stumbled and practically fell in Ranger's arms.

"Babe" Ranger said, this time on a smile. No, no, no! I had just getting started on my little ranting and raving, and now it looked like I threw myself into his arms. Ranger's arms went over around me, and for a short moment I was lost in a little Bulgari smelling world of pleasure. But then I heard the sirens of the police cars, no doubt coming towards our location. It pulled me out of my little reverie and I pulled myself out of his embrace. With a "Your paying for the next 3 haircuts" accompanied by a last angry look I wobbled over to the first arrived police car. It was actually Morelli.

"Steph, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just twisted my ankle. It's nothing."

"What's happened to your hair?"

"Joey over there cut off a piece."

"Jesus. Why did he do that?"

"Don't ask, don't ask," I said on a sigh. I mean: how to explain all this? I wanted to get out of here ASAP, and explaining this would only lead to further questioning.

"Right. Only you, Cupcake." I saw a little smile creeping at the corners of his mouth, and I shot him an angry look. But I couldn't help myself, and the angry look started to turn into a small smile. I guess you could say the bombshell bounty hunter was back!

Behind me, Ranger cleared his throat. I turned around and looked at him.

"He had the set of jewelry in his car. It's almost complete." I looked at the items in front of me. Even in the faint light of the street lights I could see them sparkling brightly. It really was a stunning set. I could see why Joey had gone for this one. I sighed once more. I would never wear stuff like that. I could see myself wearing some stunning long black dress, split at the sides, low back and then having all these stones….

"Babe…" Ranger stopped my little dream. His smile told me he had guessed where my mind had gone.

"What?"

"The earrings?" Oh, right. I took the earrings out and placed them in the 2 open spots in the box. Now the set was complete again, and everything matched. Ranger handed the set over to one of his guys and turned to me again.

"You might want to have someone check that ankle".

"I'll be fine, it just needs some ice." It was actually starting to hurt, but I didn't feel like going to the ER now. Most likely I would have to wait for 2 hours to hear what I already knew: nothing broken, put ice on it and stay of your feet for a day or 2.

"You might want to take his advice, cupcake, " Joe said. Since when did those two agree?

"Mmmph… Fine!"

"I'll take her," Ranger said to Joe, who seemed to consider protesting that statement. I was about to wobble my way to the car to get out of there myself when I felt myself being lifted into the air and then cradled against a broad chest. I looked up into brown eyes.

"Tank!" I said, not hiding my surprise.

"Hello bombshell. Lula and I just happen to be in the neighborhood. We'll drive you to the hospital and keep you company." Aww, that was nice of them! I looked up over Tanks shoulder and saw Morelli and Ranger standing side by side, watching me being carried away. They both looked like their candy had been taken away. Hah, served them right! I waved a little finger wave at them and a little playful smile. I could already hear the music coming from Tanks' car. Yep, Lula had the stereo cranked up to maximum level again. It was the perfect end to this evening.