Wait... What's this? Didn't I just post last week? No, you're not hallucinating, I really am posting again.

In honor of the snow day (thank you Ohio weather!) I'm posting again. I actually wrote this a few days after the last chapter, but it needed some tweaking. A special present for all you Babes still reading (thanks for sticking with it!)... we got a little pressure!

I'm letting you know now that the next chapter will have a lot of plot in it (we're starting to tie things together). I'm going to making sure a lot of facts are straight and adding on new things we don't already know. It'll be quite a bit of work and school is starting to pick up. Bear with me if it takes a few weeks to update. I'll be finishing this story no matter what!

Not mine, but I wish I was snowed in with Ranger...

It took a minute for that statement to sink in. When it did, I got up and went to the gun safe. "You're going to stay here," I told Lula as I strapped on my Kevlar vest.

"But I got work to do."

"I'll have Tank cut you a check. It's only fair. You can't go back."

"No way. That's my livelihood."

I pulled out my phone. "I need you my office now." Tank came in seconds later. This made Lula perk up. "I need you to watch her."

He nodded once and sat down in one of the club seats.

"Hi. I'm Lula."

"Tank."

"Is that a nickname for something?" She asked looking his body over.

I walked out before I could hear Tank's reply. "Lester, with me." I said as I passed his desk. He scrambled up and followed me to the elevator.

"Where are we going?" He asked as the doors closed.

"Stephanie's in trouble." I filled him in on what was going on.

He nodded. "Is she in trouble right now?"

I shrugged. "Not sure. We should take a look anyway."

"Sure, the newbies should go. Not us. Not you." He looked at me out of the corner of his eye. "But I get it. She's a beautiful woman and you're…"

"Tread carefully."

"You're… you. You forget that I've known you since we were both in diapers."

"I know where you're going with this. Tank has given me the same lecture over and over again. But…" I sighed. "I can't explain it. She needs me right now."

I would get these feelings on missions. That was what made me so successful. I'd get these tingles racing up and down my spine when something bad was about to happen. This was about a hundred times worse. She needed me. And I wasn't going to disappoint her.

Lester looked at me for a moment, and then nodded. He knew exactly what I was talking about. It has saved his ass many times. "Let's roll."

Stephanie's POV

"Don't. Move." The voice said in the dark. I hadn't left a light on in the apartment and the best I could tell was that it was a man.

"T…Take anything you want." I stammered. "I… I mean, I don't have much, and most of it isn't worth much, but please… Please don't kill me."

The man smiled and lowered his gun. I shivered. "I won't call the police. I'll let you go. Just… Just don't…"

And then the room was flooded with light. "Babe." Ranger said.

"Jesus, Ranger. You scared the shit out of me!" I almost fell to my knees on the ground.

"That was pretty mean, Ranger." Lester said from behind him. I was surprised to see Lester. I only had eyes for Ranger.

And then I looked around the room. "What's going on?"

Lester was in my living room, sporting a pretty bad shiner. There was a man in my club chair looking a little worse for wear, but sitting still. Pretty much because Lester's gun was pointed straight at his head.

"Got a new boyfriend?" Ranger asked.

I shook my head. "Never seen him before in my life."

Ranger's eyes flicked back to Lester.

"Then you've got a secret admirer."

My eyes flicked to the man on the chair and back to Ranger. "How…?"

"Lula."

"Hunh. Stupid cunt." The man muttered.

"Hey," Lester poked him in the head with his gun. "Shut up fucker."

I was going to send Lula a fruit basket. Or maybe a lifetime supply of chocolate.

"Why?"

Lester grinned. "Leave that up to us. Get your ass up. We're going to go have a tea party."
The man grudgingly got up and I saw that he was handcuffed. My eyes went back to Ranger's, but he was unreadable. Lester moved the man out of my apartment and then we were alone.

"They're not really going to have a tea party, are they?" I asked Ranger.

He didn't respond. Go figure. The man used as few words as possible.

"Thanks, I think."

"He had a gun on him."

I paled.

"The heat is back on, Babe." He pointed me towards my bedroom. "Go. Pack a bag."

"What for?"

"He won't be the last. You're not safe here. It's time to bring you in."

"I'll go stay with Joe."

"His house is barely safer than this place. A few well placed kicks and I could bring the door down."

"Yeah, but he has a gun."

Ranger grinned. "Mine's bigger."

Lord.

I still didn't move and I'm pretty sure he sighed. "Either you pack a bag or I pack it for you." He leaned in close. "And I can guarantee that you won't like what I pack."

His eyes darkened. I could see the thoughts clearly in his mind. "I still have a boyfriend."

"Yeah," he drawled as he came closer. I bumped into the wall and he put his hands by my head, effectively trapping me in. "And?"

"And… I'm not a cheater."

"Never said you were, Babe."

"I've been that person. I won't do that to Joe. I won't go there with you."

His eyes strayed to my lips. "Good," he said. His head lowered to mine. Our lips almost touched. "Because when you do 'go there'," his head moved to my neck and traced the line of it with his nose. "I want you to be free. I want you to be mine."

Holy hot flash Batman!

"Get your stuff Babe. You can call your boyfriend on the way there."

Boyfriend? What boyfriend?

"Oh. Right. Joe." I said aloud.

His grin just got bigger.

Stupid mouth.

I scurried off to my room to pack. I had a feeling that if I didn't do it, Ranger would pick me up and put me in the backseat. And then he'd pack every piece of lingerie that I owned and nothing else. My mind wandered to wearing some of the pieces that Joe hasn't even seen yet and my face flushed. His eyes would darken and he'd crook his finger in my direction.

"Come here, Babe." And I would listen. Unusual as that is. I'd step between his legs and he'd finger the lacy black panties. "Pretty," he'd say. "But I like you better wearing nothing."

He'd strip the lacy panties of and…

"Babe. You've got five minutes."

I fanned myself as I packed my toiletries and clothing. And if some of the pretty, lacy underwear ended up in my bag? It probably fell in with the granny panties my mother bought me. Oh dear, those shouldn't be in there!

I zipped my bag shut.

"I just want you to know that I'm going under duress." I told him when I came back out.

"Noted." He took the bag from me and led me from the apartment. "Let's go."

"You're where?" Joe yelled into the phone.

"At Rangeman. I'm not exactly sure where it is."

"Oh I know exactly where it is."

I sighed and looked around the fourth floor apartment. I knew he was going to overreact. "Look, there was a guy with a gun…"

"How do you know that it wasn't one of Ranger's men?"

How did I tell him that I had met every one of Ranger's employees without making his head explode?

"He wants in your pants, Cupcake. And he'll do anything to get into them. Lie, cheat, anything."

"Got it." God, was he afraid I'd cheat? So I had some thoughts. Who hasn't? Have you seen the man? "You trust me, right?"

"Yeah. I just don't trust him."

"I don't care about that. Trust me. I won't cheat, no matter what."

He seemed a little mollified. "When can I see you again?"

"When Ranger's done doing a threat assessment. Until then, I'm to stay put and be a good girl." Whatever the hell that means.

"I miss you. The boys miss you too."

Ugh, I really hated that he referred to his penis as the boys. "I miss you too."

Ranger walked in at that moment. There was a flash in his eyes, but it was gone a second later. "Gotta go, Joe."

"Okay, I love you."

"Love you too." I hung up. "What's up?"

"Lester's done talking to the mystery man. We know who he works for."

"Who?"

"Bobby."

This was the moment I was waiting for and dreading at the same time. I knew one of these days that they'd start coming for me again. I was hoping it would be a little farther down the line, but it was going to happen now. I sighed. "Let's get to work."