In Walked Love
Chapter 5
SapphireJ

As I entered the stairwell, Hector was leaning against the wall waiting for me. I nodded at him and tried to slip past, but he put a hand on my arm and turned me to face him. Now, I've never been scared of anyone in my life, but this is Hector. Former gang member, non-military, and doesn't play by the rules. The look in his eyes told me I should be very afraid of him, but I don't know why.

"Hola," he said with a tight voice.

"Hola, Hector," I replied hoping that he'd just let me go so I could crawl in bed.

He looked at me for a few seconds before doing something I would have never thought him to do. "I know secret. You and Bonita marry. You no hurt her or I hurt you."

Holy fucking shit! When the fuck did he start speaking and understanding English? Fuck! That little shit was listening in to our conversation on the way home earlier and played as though he was just driving. Before I had time to respond, Hector was out the door and I was standing there confused. I decided to head up stairs and take a shower, giving myself time to process what happened and figure out how to tell my wife we've been found out.

I walked through the bedroom door and saw Steph curled up with my pillow. Not wanting to disturb her yet, I slipped into the shower and then brushed my teeth. Crawling in behind her, I smiled when she scooted back to me and whispered, "You're home." I've lived at RangeMan since I started working here and had thought of it as home, but just realized that it was only a place for me to sleep. Home was where ever Steph was.

My alarm went off four hours later… hours before I was ready for it to. I didn't want to leave the warmth of my wife wrapped around me. I knew I needed to tell her about Hector before I started work, but I also knew I had some time, so I headed down to the gym for my morning workout.

When I entered the gym, I saw Zip, Zero, Junior, Hal, and Lester. Hal and Lester were in the ring while the other three were doing weights. I jumped on the treadmill and started my eight miles. I was going over the DVD of my wedding in my head and didn't hear Junior step up beside me.

"How was the weekend?" he asked with a smile on his face.

What the fuck was he smiling about? "Fine," I answered, hoping he'd let me finish my workout in peace and quiet. Nope, no such fucking luck.

"Man, what happened to you Friday night? You took Bomber to the bathroom and then disappeared." I looked at him and shrugged. "We saw Steph go to the bar, say something to Connie, and then she walked out. We never saw you again."

"What does it matter? Are you my father?" I was beginning to think Steph was right and the guys were going to figure out we were married and I was going to have to give her a massage. Shit, I already owe her the massage because Hector knows… wonder if that counts since he found out by us talking about it.

Junior must have realized I wasn't going to talk to him anymore as he put his ear-buds in and began running. Just as I reached for my towel, I saw Junior looking at my hand. He didn't say anything and quickly went back to running. Wonder if he noticed.

When I got back to my room, I took a quick shower and figured it was time to wake Steph before I had to be upstairs, so began my morning ritual of waking her up with kisses everywhere. "God, I love waking up like that," I heard her purr just moments before my lips descended on hers.

Once I was sure she was thoroughly awake, I pulled her to me, "I need to tell you something."

"Hmm?"

"We've been found out by one of the guys."

She tipped her head to the side and looked at me, "Who? How?" She didn't seem upset, so I guess she was expecting to be found out; just wait until I tell her how!

"Hector."

"He saw the ring?" she questioned as she played with my band.

"No. He found out on the way home yesterday." She stared at me and I kept talking. "Seems he has a secret that no one knows. He heard us talking on the way home and he understood every word."

"But he doesn't speak… oh shit. You mean he speaks English?" I nodded. "And he understood every word we said?" Another nod. "That little sneak!"

Stephanie flopped back on the bed and moaned. Thinking she was upset about something, I laid next to her, "What's wrong, Honey?"

"Nothing is wrong. I was just dreaming of the massage you owe me and how wonderful it will feel." She smiled the best smile I'd ever seen on her and I told myself right then that if a massage a day would put that smile on her face, I'd do it.

I leaned over and kissed her, "I need to be upstairs in fifteen or I'd give you your massage right now."

She leaned up and captured my lips with hers, tracing her tongue across my bottom lip and I couldn't stop the growl that erupted from me as my fingers tangled in her hair. Just as I was attempting to take things farther, she remembered what I had said. "Get going so you're not late. I don't want you to be in trouble with the boss. I'll be up later."

"What are you doing today?" I asked as I nipped her neck.

"I'm going to check in at the office and see if there are any skips. If there are, I'll either go after them or do some research. If not, I'll head to my apartment and clean. You are welcome to come over when you're off work. What all do you have planned for the day?"

"I'm with Zip again today. We've got a takedown set for fifteen hundred. Other than that, I'm in the office catching up on paperwork from last night and last week. I have two hours of monitors from noon until fourteen hundred. I should be done as soon as the skip is at the station. Hopefully, I can be to your apartment by seventeen hundred."

"Sounds good. We can do Chinese for dinner?" That sounded good to me so I nodded, kissed her again, and removed myself from the bed. As I tucked my gun into the waistband at my back, I heard a moan and turned around to see her eyes glossed over.

"What's the matter?" I asked with a smile.

"Do you have any idea how hot and sexy you look right now?" she replied as she crawled to the end of the bed.

Taking a step toward her, I smirked, "Nope, tell me."

"Dammit, I don't have time to tell you. You need to get going or you're going to be late." She grabbed my shirt and pulled me to her, "I love you. Be careful today and I'll see you in a few hours." The kiss she gave me was one that had me wishing I didn't have to go to work but could crawl back in bed with her and show her how much I love her for hours.

In the end, I nodded, kissed her forehead and headed upstairs. I knew she'd not step on the floor today; everyone would be able to tell she had an interesting weekend. Wonder what the girls will say to her.

When I opened the door to the fifth floor, I saw the guys standing around the monitors so I headed in to see what the deal was. "What's up?"

Chase looked at me and pointed to the fifth screen on the third row, "Looks like some punks are trying to break-in to the jewelry store down the street. Cal and Hector just headed out to stop them." Oh shit! This ought to be good. I stood there watching the screen with the rest of them. We saw Cal come around the corner from the south, while Hector had climbed up the dumpster to get on the roof. He was hanging over the edge where the kids couldn't see him yet.

One of the kids picked the lock on the door and before the door was opened, Hector dropped down in front of them, scaring them half to death. He grabbed two of them while the third one took off running; only he didn't get very far. Cal stepped in front of him and, when he reached for the kid, the kid turned around and we could see some very wet pants. The two that Hector had a hold of had their pants hanging below their asses; something I'll never fucking understand. Either get a belt or buy pants that fucking fit! No one wants to see your ass hanging out as you walk by.

I knew the pants thing always bothered Hector, so I wasn't surprised by what he did. He handed one of the punks to Cal so he wouldn't take off running, turned to the one he still had a hold of, and pulled his pants all the way down. The kid had on Mickey Mouse boxers and we all laughed. Cal switched kids with Hector and Hector treated the other kid with the same kindness. This kid had a little more embarrassing moment; he wasn't wearing anything under his pants. Once the pants were disposed of, we saw Cal and Hector load the kids into the SUV and they were off to the police department.

I went to my cube and started in on the paperwork. I was about half way through when Les knocked on the frame. "Hey," I said with a nod.

"Got a few?" he responded as he sat in the chair across from my desk.

"What's up?"

"What happened with you and Beautiful this weekend? How did you two end up spending time together the whole weekend?"

I took a sip from my water bottle and thought about what to tell him. Tossing the empty bottle in the trash, I looked over at him, "What are your feelings for her?"

"She's my best friend. I don't want to see her hurt; she's been hurt enough already by the cop and boss."

"I don't plan on ever hurting her. What she and I have is new, but we both plan on seeing where it goes."

He shifted in his chair and finally ran his hand through his spikes, "Look, I don't want to be an ass here, but I'm putting you on notice. If I see you hurt her in any way, your ass is mine. I know she told me to leave you alone over the weekend, but this is between you and me. I won't watch her get hurt again." With that he stood up and left my cube.

Before I could get back to my paperwork, it was monitor time. I fucking hate the monitors! I walked in and relieved Zero and Bobby. Zip knew the rules for monitors, so even though the two hours took forever to pass, at least it was done in silence.

I'd not seen or heard from Steph since I left the apartment this morning and, as much as I hated to think about it, I missed her. So, I pulled up her tracker just to see where she was. Looked like she was over at Mooner's place; he must have missed his date again. At least I could see she was safe and get back to work myself.

It was nearing time for the takedown, so Zip and I loaded up and put on our flak vests. On the way over, we discussed the routine. "You want front or back door?" he asked.

Looking at the dude's picture, I questioned him, "You think you can take him if he bolts out the door?" I saw the nod. "Well, you want the chase or capture?" If you wanted the chase, you took the back door – the skips always go for the back door. If you wanted the capture, you took the front. If you were quick enough, you could catch him before he made it to the back door.

"I'm in the mood for a chase today," Zip replied.

We parked a few houses down from Zelinski's house; he was wanted for drug trafficking to minors and police brutality. We knew if he was roughed up a little, no one would say a word; I could tell Zip was itching for this guy to run just so he could release some tension; guess he didn't get laid over the weekend.

We quietly snuck up to Zelinski's house and I took the front. I waited until Zip beeped the phone that he was in place before I knocked on the door. A woman, somewhere in her forties, opened the door. "Can I help you?"

"I'm from Plum Bail Bonds and I need to see Ryan Zelinksi."

"I'm sorry, he's not here. He's not been here in weeks," she said as she tried to close the door a little more. What she didn't count on was that I could see in the mirror on the wall and saw Ryan making a break for the back door.

"Head's up," I yelled as I ran around the house just in time to see Zip take off after Zelinski. Before Zelinski made it to the fence, Zip had him on the ground and cuffed behind his back. "Nice," I told him as I helped him get Zelinski up.

We drove to the station to drop off the creep and I noticed no one I knew was working. Looks like they are all in a meeting. I got the body receipt and we headed back to RangeMan. It was time to get out of the uniform and head over to see my wife. I still can't get use to saying that! When we arrived on the fifth floor, I knew something was different. Glancing in the control room, I saw Chase and Bones on montors.

"Where's everyone?" I asked. I knew Bones only worked to fill in when we were understaffed and Chase was too new to be left on monitors alone. That should have told me something right then.

Chase looked over at me and shrugged, "They're all at the hospital."

"Who got hurt?" I checked my phone but didn't see any alerts come across. Usually when someone was hurt, there was a RangeMan wide alert that went out. For some reason, nothing was sent this time.

Bones, without looking away from the monitor bank, replied, "Steph. She was in a pretty bad car accident."

I saw the dots dancing in front of me but couldn't do anything… I felt my world was about to go black.