This is an AU story. I hope you find the characters still themselves even if their world is different.

Thanks to Rach who makes this so much more fun and the writing so much better.

Sally

Chapter 20

"I know!" My voice was way too loud. "I've got it! I don't know why I didn't see it before!" I giggled and pointed at the picture, "KA-BOOM!" I looked at Ranger and told him. "Don't you see it? You're Batman! The Dark Night." He just stared blankly at me. I guess I was going to have to explain. "If you're Batman then obviously the Joker is behind this." I managed to keep the duh! to myself. My head whipped to the other guys.

I told Tank, "That makes you Robin! And Lester you can be the Green Lantern and Bobby you're the Phantom." They looked at me with concerned eyes. What were they worried about? I'd just solved the case. I continued to babble, "So you see this isn't about me. This is the wrong story. I'm Wonder Woman. Nobody stalks Wonder Woman!" I jumped out of Ranger's lap so I could continue my rant complete with pacing and Italian hand gestures. My knees didn't hold. I collapsed and everything went black. Great. Wonder Woman never blacked out.

The Good Wife

Chapter 21

I was having a serious case of déjà vu. For the second time in as many days I opened my eyes to a pair of warm, worried brown eyes staring back at me. I was laid out on the couch in Ranger's office. We were alone. I must have scared off all of the other guys. Sure, facing a grenade launcher is no problem, but a hysterical woman is something else entirely.

Yesterday it took the force of an explosion to knock me out. Today it was simply the image of one that did the trick. If this keeps up, by tomorrow the mere mention of it may put me in a coma. I'm not sure what it was about the image that launched me into the hysterics. I mean I was there, at the scene, mere feet from the blazing car. But it was something entirely different to seeing it objectively. The surreal feeling I associated with the explosion was replaced with very real images and emotions. I've seen much worse in person and it hadn't made me faint, although it had never been about me before either.

"Babe," Ranger gave me a soft smile and kissed my forehead. I gave him a weak smile in return. "You alright? You were looking a little crazy there." He grinned, trying to make light of the situation, relieve a little of my embarrassment.

I tried to answer, but it came out as more of a croak. Ranger helped me sit up and handed me a bottle of water. I took a long swallow before trying to continue. "Sorry about that. I just got a little overwhelmed."

Ranger just shook his head and took a seat next to me on the couch and pulled me into his lap. "What did I tell you about apologizing all the time? It's not your fault. This is a stressful situation; your body is handling the only way it knows how. You have nothing to be sorry for or be embarrassed about."

I sighed. It made sense when he said it, but I still felt bad about passing out. I thought back to my rambling…Man in Black…Batman…

My eyes widened as I recalled my words. I looked at Ranger. "Did I really give each one of you a superhero identity?" Ranger grinned. Yup, guess I did.

"Batman, huh?" he didn't seem to be put off by the comparison. "I kind of like it. Tank on the other hand may have a bone to pick with you." His grin got a little bigger. I grimaced. Tank could squash me like a bug. Not that I thought he would, but I'd just labeled him a tights-wearing sidekick. I tucked my head into Ranger's neck hoping this was just a dream or that I could blink like in I Dream of Jeannie and pop myself back in time so I didn't make such an ass of myself. Knowing I lacked skills of the fictional persuasion, I used my real-life talent instead. I changed the subject.

"Can I see the photo again?" Ranger looked a little unsure. "I'll be fine. It just shocked me a little, that's all. I mean I know I was there, but it all happened so fast I didn't really see much. So seeing it captured like that was kind of unnerving. But I'm over it. Can I see it?"

He didn't say anything, but he reached onto the coffee table and grabbed the image. I was once again stuck by its beauty. I zeroed in on the half that featured Ranger and I. Using my finger I traced the line of his body as it covered my own. The fact that he would be willing to protect my life with his own hit me again and I shivered. His arms tightened around me. I tried to lighten the mood. "You know, if it wasn't for the whole burning car thing, it's a pretty good picture." He chuckled, knowing I was dealing in the only way I knew how.

I was holding the picture, trying to figure out what felt off about it. I weighed it in my hands and it hit me. It was heavy. I flipped the image over and looked for the processing information that was always on the back of an image when you get it processed, most stores listed the date and sometimes even the time the images were processed. It was how we had narrowed down the windows of time to look for in the surveillance video.

I could feel Ranger watching me, waiting. "This picture is different. Can I see the others? The originals?" Ranger just nodded and grabbed a folder that was sitting on the coffee table.

"You sure you want to see them all at once?" He was trying to protect me and while I appreciated the gesture, I needed to man–up, so to speak. I'd told Joe I was a valuable part of the team - I needed to act like it.

I nodded, "Yeah, something is off about this one, I want to compare them." He handed me the folder and I slid off his lap to sit next to him on the couch. I took out each photo and examined it before laying them all out on the coffee table. I separated them into groups.

"What do you see Babe?" My heart pitter pattered a bit. He was asking my opinion, wanting my input. Of course he had treated me this way all along, but hearing it again gave me a warm feeling. He made me feel like a valued member of the team. It meant so much because with Dickie our image in the media was the political super couple, partners. It couldn't be further from the truth. While I was serving my purpose, it was just a role. I was the good wife. But with Ranger, he treated me as an equal, a partner, what I had thought Dickie and I would be.

I explained the piles; I had grouped them by printing. "This pile is photos that were printed locally, the pictures themselves are pretty normal. They don't look creepy or stalkerish. It's the writing on them that makes them freaky." He nodded following my logic. Imagine that, my logic. Encouraged, I continued. "These pictures alone wouldn't raise any suspicion so there is no harm in having them printed locally. They wouldn't raise any red flags for the person processing them. Also these are the oldest photos." Great, the birth of a stalker in pictures.

I pointed to the next pile. "These were all ordered online. Individually they don't look like much, but when you compare them to the other stack you can see they're impersonal. These were taken from farther away, like surveillance photos, which could make them stand out to a developer. They don't look like family photos. It was safer to have them printed online and then mailed." The stalker was growing in intensity.

Ranger hadn't called in the men in white coats yet and I took that as a good sign. I picked up the third pile. "These are the freakiest ones. They are downright creepy. I mean the photos themselves are good. In fact all of them are objectively good pictures. The balance, lighting, etc. I think this person knows their way around a camera. Anyway, these photos might raise suspicion if sent in for processing. All of these were printed at home." It looked like these were taken with a more expensive camera, they had to have been taken from farther away.

I glanced over at Ranger to see if he thought I was nuts. I found out a long time ago that my brain doesn't work the same way as most peoples' brains. It has served me well, but it has also earned me some odd looks. He just looked stunned. I quietly waited for him to say something. It was killing me, but I'd already said plenty.

Ranger slowly shook his head as if to clear out the cobwebs. As he did a slow smile crossed his beautiful face. "Proud of you Babe. I can't tell you how many guys I've had go over those pictures and none of them found any of those connections." He leaned over and gave me a short, but fierce kiss. I've got to make him proud of me more often, I thought, as it was my turn to shake out the cobwebs of my Ranger induced fog. I just gave him a big stupid grin.

He grabbed the latest photo, the one of the Porsche doing a great imitation of a bonfire. "What about this one Babe? This is the one that set off your spidey sense. What's different about it?"

I took the photo from him. "For one, it feels different. It's heavy. Almost like portrait weight paper. Obviously it wasn't printed at a drug store. I don't even think it was even at a photo shop. Someone walking in off the street and having a photo of an explosion is bound to be noticed. So I think it was printed at home." I grabbed the stack of photos that had been printed on a home printer. "All of these are on the normal lightweight paper you run through any inkjet. But this one," I held the new one, "This one was printed on a different printer, a nice one. Like one a private photographer would use."

"What changed? Why step up to professional finishing? Why send the 8x10? All of the others have been just a 4x6." Ranger prodded.

I shrugged, "I don't know. Maybe they were inspired. I mean look at the photo. It's beautiful. It could win prizes. Maybe they started out wanting to freak me out, but now it's taken on a life of its own. The stalker is now seeing themselves as some sort of artist." My stalker seems to have grown from the average hack with a point and click camera to full blown creative freak. Guess I inspired them. Why can't I even have a normal stalker? Is there such a thing? Not now Steph. Focus here.

Ranger looked a little grim, "And they know you're here." Today's photo was sent to Rangeman. Shit, I hadn't thought about that.

"How? I mean how could they know? No one knows. Well, Dickie and Connie know. Maybe the stalker doesn't know I'm staying here, just that you've been hired to work on the case." That seemed more logical. "Besides, it was only this morning that my stuff got moved in here. Which was quite a surprise by the way." I wanted to say more, but that would be a whole different discussion. "I think they are just trying to antagonize you."

Ranger grunted something that sounded like, "They're doing a great job."