AN: Thank you to everyone for reading, and a special thank you to everyone who has reviewed. I'm in the land of limited internet, which means I can't respond to all of you just now, but I'd like to say I really do appreciate the feedback so keep it coming. I don't know if I'll be able to post next week, but I'll see what I can do!

Ranger came home about twenty minutes after I did, and he was without Julie. "Where's the kid?"

"Staying on four, across the hall from Minnie."

"Why is she there?" I asked.

"We don't have room for her up here, and believe me, we don't want her sleeping on the sofa," Ranger said.

"So what's the deal?" I asked.

"With Julie, or Molly?"

"Julie," I said. "I'm not thinking about Molly. I want to know nothing about this until I absolutely have to. That way I can't say anything under interrogation."

"You're blowing this out of proportion."

"I bet you I'm not," I said.

Ranger grinned. "If I'm right, you change the terms of your favor."

"How?"

"Take away the 'within reason.'"

My blood pressure spiked, and the room temperature went up about forty degrees. "Okay." I squeaked. I was pretty sure Lester was going to freak, and that the bet was safe, but who knew. He might be totally cool about it.

Ranger chuckled.

"What's the deal with Julie?" I asked.

"She has a boyfriend who got busted last week on a possession charge, and he's out on bail. Rachel and Ron won't let her see him again. She decided to ditch them at the airport, and she took a cab to my grandmother's. She wants to live with me because I'm not going to be prejudiced against him because he smokes a little weed."

"She got what she wanted, so why is she pissed at you?"

"Because I showed her his papers, and told her that if he violated his bond and came anywhere near New Jersey, I was more than happy to bring him back to Florida to collect the money for hauling his ass in. I also told her that it wasn't a free ride and she'd be working here for the summer."

"Is this like a rehab facility for wayward family members?"

"It was a mistake hiring Lester; it set a precedent," Ranger said. I grinned.

"What is she going to be doing?"

"Data entry for Hector," Ranger said.

"Is that a good idea?" I asked. "Hector is pretty scary."

"She knows Hector," Ranger said. "She'll be fine."

"She's downstairs now?" I asked.

"Looking at paint colors with Ella. I told her she could paint her apartment before she started work. She'll be up for dinner."

Ranger leaned up against the kitchen cupboards and folded his arms. About two seconds later Lunch Box climbed up onto the counter and tapped politely on Ranger's hand with his little claw, and Ranger looked down and then picked up his bird, and put him on his shoulder.

"He's only ever that polite with you, you know that right?" I said.

"It's not all that surprising," Ranger said, "I raised him."

Our custody of Lunch Box was supposed to be temporary, but I had a suspicion that it was temporary like my babysitting job of Bob was temporary. In other words, permanent. The bird loved Ranger. Sure he was foul-mouthed and liked to wake me up by pulling my hair when Ranger wasn't in the apartment, but he was endearing with his inability to fly, and his pink feathers. He was damned smart too, and a good guard bird. A little while ago, he went apeshit on a beer bottle that had been tampered with by a creepy assassin who wanted to contact me. Ranger had put us both in the shower to hide while he swept the apartment, and here was zero doubt in my mind that if anyone but Ranger had come into that shower, Lunch Box would have protected me. Given his claws and a beak that could quickly destroy a walnut with the same ease he decimated a banana, he wasn't an insignificant threat.

"So this car I'm getting tomorrow, what is it?"

"Another Turbo," Ranger said.

"Isn't that going to get confusing?"

"Not really," he said.

"We're going to have the same keys Ranger," I said.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a chunky silver keychain and handed it to me. Four big block letters welded together that said, 'Babe'. It weighed a tonne.

"Well that solves that problem, and if necessary I can use the keychain as weight next time I have to hit someone."

"Or you could use it to punch out a car window," he said.

"Very practical," I said.

"That's my middle name."

"It should be," I said.

"Banana, Bitch!" Lunch Box said.

He meant me. He wanted me to get him the banana. "Manners," Ranger said.

"Banana, Sunshine," Lunch Box said.

I rolled my eyes and got the banana off of the top of the fridge, and Lunch Box did a controlled fall off of Ranger's shoulder, and onto the floor. He did his funny little bobbing walk to his perch and climbed up it, where I gave him half of the banana, and broke off a chunk for Rex, who was sleeping in his soup can. I mean yes, it was the same thing they had for breakfast, but neither of them seemed to be complaining.

"So Connie and I turned up less than nothing about Dickerson, on the computer. I think I'm going to be spending a lot of time tailing him."

"You're going to want to use one of the Explorers for that."

"Why?" I asked.

"They don't stand out, and a 9-11 Turbo does, and Dickerson knows I drive one."

"Fair enough," I said.

"Besides, I've had separate cooling units installed in the explorers, so my people don't die of heat stroke on stakeouts, and the car batteries don't go flat."

"That's thoughtful," I said.

"I don't want to get sued," Ranger said.

"Your men wouldn't sue you," I said.

"Their families might," he said. "There's no gossip about him around the Burg?"

"None," I said, "He's a stand-up guy. Almost everybody has a story about how he helped them through some hurdle in school. The worst we've been able to find out about him is that he doesn't really think the words 'No Parking' apply to him. I am going to do some asking around tomorrow but honestly, it just doesn't feel right. If he was the type of guy to have an affair with a student, I'd have known."

"Why?" Ranger asked.

"Because I went to high school," I said. "And every girl hears about this stuff. Mr. Whosit only gives A's to girls endowed with C's and D's. Mr. Guy will make you sit in the front row if you wear a short skirt or a low cut shirt. Make sure you pad your sports bra if you have co-ed gym with Mr. Dude because if you get cold, he'll make a big deal about it.

It's a piss off, but it's a reality and girls tend to pass this shit on to each other, even if it's just speculation. Then there's the fact that he was cute when I went to school and half of the girls in my class had a massive crush on him, and teenaged girls are better than the FBI at digging up information about a guy they have a crush on. Even in the days before social media. If he was the kind of guy to sleep with a student, it would have been everywhere."

"There's a first time for everything," Ranger said.

"Yeah," I said, "But he wouldn't be good at hiding it. Mrs. Dickerson suspects something, but nobody else does and when was the last time you heard of an affair where the spouse was the first to know?"

"Never," Ranger said.

"I'm going to follow him tomorrow," I said. "So picking up my new car can wait."

"No," Ranger said. "I'm practicing some optimism. This car will be the one that makes it."

"Whatever you say," I said.

The next morning I got up at 8:00 and had a bowl of cereal with Julie. She was acting like the girl I knew, all excited about the colors her apartment was being painted today, and how she and Ella were choosing curtains, and decorations for the place. It sounded like the most un-Rangeman like place you could imagine. Definitely very teenaged girl.

"What are you doing today?" she asked me.

"Following around my old Science teacher to see if he's having an affair," I said.

"Fun," Julie said. "Can I come?"

"I'd say yes because it's probably going to be boring, but Ranger has plans for you today, I think."

"Coffee?" I looked down at the floor at Lunch Box. The bird looked like he needed a coffee. He had bedhead and he was looking at the rope nailed to the counter so he could climb up it like it was a torture device. I bent down and picked him up and put some Froot Loops on the counter for him instead. "Fuckin' A."

Julie stared at him. "You've met Lunch Box," I said, "He was at our wedding."

"I didn't know he'd come to live with you guys. He's so cool! Can I pet him."

"Sure," I said.

Julie reached out and smoothed some of Lunch Box's feathers. The bird started purring. "He's really smart, maybe you can teach him some manners this summer."

I went to the fridge and got him some berries to go with his cereal and went downstairs to tell Ranger I was alive. He was just hanging up the phone when I walked in. "So are we ready to go get this show on the road?"

"Yes," Ranger said. "How's Julie?"

"Bonding with the bird."

"Progress then," Ranger said.

"She seemed pleasant enough this morning," I said.

"That's because you haven't done anything to discipline her. Give it time."

I shrugged and helped myself to a coffee in the break room before we went down to Ranger's 911. We got into the front seat, and twenty minutes later we pulled up to the Porsche lot. "So here is the deal. We're driving this car from here, to Haywood, where it'll be picked up by Al and turned into a tank. So as long as you can get it home safe, we're fine. I figure the timing is good because you've got no cases besides Dickerson, and you haven't pissed anyone off in a while."

"You're right. My cars only die when I stick my nose into stuff," I said.

We got out of Ranger's car, and he walked me over to a turquoise 9-11.

"It's not black," I said.

"It's called Miami Blue," Ranger said. I stared at it in awe. It's was so fucking pretty. Ranger's cars were sexy, and sleek and black and so very Ranger, but this car was a-fucking-dorable. It was absolutely, 100%, love at first sight. I knew it would have everything I needed on it, and I'd driven enough of them by now to know I loved the ride.

The dealer brought me the keys, and I got into the car and sighed. It had a tan and Bordeaux leather interior instead of all black. In fact, the only black on the whole car seemed to be the matt black rims, the tires and a little, like eyeliner, around the lights.

"Do you need a moment," Ranger asked.

"I love it," I said.

He chuckled. I'd be resigned for this whole drive like I was being driven to an execution or something. Ranger signed some paperwork and left me to my ride. He took the long way home, hopping onto the interstate so I could open up the taps a bit on my car, and then we drove back to the garage. I parked in my space, and as a joke, or what I think was probably maybe a joke, but could have been a sensible precaution, Tank put traffic cones in the spaces around the car, and behind it.

I couldn't wait to drive it around. I was actually kind of sad that I was going to have to wait until it came back from Al's before I got to drive it again, but knew that it was for the best. I stood beside it, resisting the urge to lick it to declare ownership when the elevator doors to the garage opened.

Lester stormed out of the elevator, followed immediately by Bobby, who burst out of the stairwell sporting a bit of a fat lip. "What's going on?" I asked.

Lester got into one of the big armored pickup trucks, and started it, locking the doors. "You need to chill man. I told you yesterday that she was better off…" Bobby shouted but was cut off as he jumped away from the truck when Lester slammed it into reverse. Ranger snagged me around the waist, and half threw me away from my new car as Lester drove full speed in reverse, directly into the back of the Porsche, crumpling it against the wall like an accordion.

I was frozen with a combination of despair and rage. I stared in utter disbelief at the wreck, as Ranger hauled Lester out of the car.

"Are you okay?" Ranger asked.

Lester went off in Spanish, and Ranger waited for a pause and said, "I'm aware of the situation."

"And you didn't tell me?" Lester took a swing at Ranger, and let's just say it didn't go well for Lester. It ended with Ranger marching Lester into Rangeman for a timeout.

Bobby got into the truck and drove it away from the Porsche, the paint on the truck was barely scratched. My brand new, beautiful little car was toast. A complete write off.

"What the hell happened?" I asked Bobby.

"Molly has a boy over," Bobby said. "It would be fine except Lester was on monitor duty this morning, and from how they were acting, and the sound of what he was saying, he wasn't there for her excellent coffee."

"You have cameras in her apartment?" I said.

"No, just the store, but she lives above it, and if she leaves the door open, we can sometimes pick up what's going on inside the apartment."

"Damn," I said.

"Usually all we hear are the sounds of TV, and the vacuum when she's cleaning. She doesn't have a lot of company that isn't Lester."

Well, I won that bet; a fact I would happily remind Ranger of while he punished Lester. It would inspire the punishment.