A/N: I never really understood why FanFic authors encouraged reviews; I thought people wrote for the joy of writing. I totally get it now - it's very rewarding to see that people enjoy what you've spent time creating. All my reviews and PMs have been so nice and supportive, and I greatly appreciate the time you all took to send them. Thanks to my ever vigilant Beta, snapesgirl21, her cheerleading spurs my creative juices!
Ranger was quiet.
Ranger was usually quiet, but a quiet Ranger and a nervous Stephanie were not a good combination. As they proceeded along the streets of Trenton toward the Haywood office and their 7th floor apartment, Stephanie worked on not appearing as though she was hiding a blessed thing. Nope. Nothing to see, move it along, folks.
She almost fooled herself into thinking it was working when Ranger said, "I smell smoke, Babe."
"W-what do you mean?" She stuttered, only daring to peek towards her husband. She noticed immediately that his grip on the Porsche's steering wheel was much tighter than usual and his blank face was etched with tension so subtle only Steph would've noticed it. This was not good.
"You lied to me." Was all the reply he gave her.
Shit. She hated disappointing him, and he did not sound happy or amused in the slightest. She gnawed her lip for a few seconds, then attempted a nonchalant tone and asked, "What do you mean?" He continued driving in silence, waiting her out. Just when she was about to cave and tell him anything he wanted to know, he said tightly, "You didn't get takeout. You weren't eating Pino's in that alley, and Morelli hasn't been in there today. Explain."
Offering up a silent prayer for the eternal souls of the now-doomed Bobby and Lester, she commenced to confess everything to Ranger – the gossiping, the worry about Hector, and finally the spying. "And we didn't even manage to get the bug back!" She finished in a flurry of words. She had worked hard, conscientiously even, at being a wife Ranger could be proud of. She exercised 5 mornings a week, logged 2 hours of practice at the gun range weekly, and never went after a skip without a partner anymore. She had adamantly opposed and fought against changing anything about herself for so long that she became immediately defensive when anyone broached the topic of training. That changed, pretty seamlessly in Steph's opinion, as soon as Ranger confessed his love for her. The security, the safety she felt ensconced in his arms and knowing it wasn't going to end when the sun rose forced her to accept what everyone else already knew – she needed to be able to stand by Ranger's side, not hidden behind his cloak of protection. So she committed to improving her skills and improving her natural talent and was happy – and completely at peace with – the changes in her life.
And now, in the span of one afternoon, she was going to lose all the trust and pride she'd earned from the man she admired most in the world. She felt tears welling up and furiously tried to blink them back, regretting bitterly the cause of them. Ranger pulled to the side of the road and shut the Porsche off. "So you were concerned for your friend's well-being and wanted to protect him. I wouldn't have expected anything less from you, Babe." He paused to tuck a curl behind her ear and asked, gently, "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
"Uh…I, uh, I thought you'd stop us. Because of how private Hector is and, well, you know….we used Rangeman resources. The bug and, uh, we were sort of on the clock." She sputtered. Stephanie felt a tendril of hope rise up; was Ranger going to forgive her this lapse of judgment?
"Babe, when I married you, I promised to support you. I take my vows seriously. If you needed to make sure Hector was safe, I would've helped you. Or I would've told you I already ran a background check on Vaughn."
Stephanie blinked furiously in surprise. Her mouth opened, closed, and opened again. "YOU snooped?! Mister Calm-and-Collected looked into Hector's new boyfriend! Oh, this is too good! And you always accuse ME of being curious!" She crowed. Ranger's acceptance of her afternoon dalliance made Stephanie positively giddy with relief, so she indulged in poking the bear a bit. "Why didn't you tell me you were looking into him?"
Ranger eased back onto the road and let the corner of his mouth tip up slightly; Stephanie was amusing him again. "Same reason as you. You know the Hector Gutierrez that works at Rangeman and is your friend. I've known the Hector Gutierrez that was a leader in a gang, and I've seen how hard he's worked to turn his life around. Kind of like someone else I know." He smiled and raised her hand to his lips, gently kissing her knuckles. "I was looking out for my friend and employee's best interests. The McGovern's are pretty clear-cut, average people. Hector could do worse."
"She seemed nice, and he's so pretty I want to put him in my purse and show him to my girlfriends." Steph agreed happily, then said in a conspiratorial tone, "I think Les has the hots for her."
Ranger exhaled abruptly - one could hardly accuse such a man of snorting - and said, "All Les needs is a pulse, and even that's negotiable."
Stephanie laughed and exclaimed, "Who are you and what have you done with my Carlos?"
Ranger's eyes darkened, and he growled, "I love when you call me 'Carlos', Babe." Just as they swung into his parking space at Rangeman.
"Well, Carlos, come up to 7 with me and I'll call you whatever you like."
As Stephanie was teasing Carlos, across town Bobby and Lester were pulling out of Pino's parking lot. Lester was slightly pensive, and experience had taught Bobby Brown to give his best friend some space when he got into a funk. Les was mostly a happy guy, sometimes intense, and rarely moody. The bouts of gloominess were almost always centered around a series of events that happened years ago, and Bobby wondered what prompted this.
Lester, meanwhile, pulled himself out of his reverie and clapped his hands together, as though to close the chapter he'd been reflecting on. "Let's hit The Landing Strip tonight."
The Landing Strip was an aptly named strip club located halfway between Trenton and Newark. It was a surprisingly nice place (if a strip club can be called nice) with clean bathrooms and pretty dancers who could actually dance. They'd hit the Strip enough, with various Rangemen in tow, to meet and eventually become friends with the owner, Mark Tatum. Mark was a fun guy to go out with and had access and connections to a variety of women, so he and Les hit it off straight away. He'd drunkenly confessed one night to having stripped for a few years after high school, intending to pay for college. He accidentally got an honest to gosh porn star pregnant, so his priorities quickly changed. He used his savings as a capital investment to start his club and now ran the most profitable establishment this side of the city and frequently had his now 3 year old daughter, Sophie, with him when he wasn't at the club.
"Sounds good." Bobby agreed. "We haven't been in awhile. You should text Mark, tell him we're coming up."
Les pulled out his phone and fired off the text. "Done. And if you skeet out early for that Korean waitress again, you're buying my drinks."
Later that evening at a VIP booth inside The Landing Strip, Les watched the dancers from his secluded perch alongside Bobby, Vince, Ram and Zip. The booze was flowing and, for a Tuesday night, the crowd was surprisingly big. An hour after their arrival, Mark finally slid into the booth to greet his friends. After a round of manly back-pounding and traded insults, the men alternated between watching the girls and catching up.
"Been awhile since you've been in! Yun-Ji was mooning over our boy here for a few days the last time!" Mark elbowed Bobby playfully.
"Yeah, since the Boss got married he's been working like, normal human hours so we've been stretched a little thin. The new hires are off probation now, so it should even back out." Les offered, his eyes glued to the stage. This, this was what he needed – the autonomy of a club, the meaningless joining of two bodies before he left and returned to his apartment. Nothing else, he reminded himself. This was good; he was good at this.
Mark interrupted Lester's introspection. "Hey, man, forgot to tell you, I referred a friend of mine in the city to Rangeman! Just his apartment for now but he's got a lot of friends and business partners up there, might be a good idea to schmooze him a little." Les thanked him for the information and asked his friend's name.
"Vaughn McGovern. He just moved to Hell's Kitchen."
Well, Hell. Lester had been looking forward to forgetting all about the zing he'd felt when Giana first spoke with the help of the blond waitress who had been eye fucking him for the past half hour. Instead, he turned his attention to Mark as Bobby was explaining that one of their employees was seeing Vaughn. "We actually met him today. Seemed like an okay guy. Not...stereotypical, I guess? But I can't imagine Hector with someone like that, so…" He trailed off as Yun-Ji leaned across the table next to them, flashing the very little bit her micro-mini skirt didn't cover directly at Bobby. She turned, caught him staring, and winked her impossibly long lashes at him.
"We met the sister, too. You know her?" Les asked casually.
Mark brightened noticeably. "Giana? Dude, that's Sophie's godmother. My best friend, G. I know I've talked about her before!"
"THAT'S your friend, G? I guess I never paid attention when you talked about her. I kind of thought G was a guy." Bobby admitted. Vince was now leaning in, listening to the exchange while Ram and Zip were off, seeking company for the evening.
"She was hot. You guys got anything going?" Les asked while taking a pull from his long neck. Blondie was practically preening near their table by now and Les flashed his dimples, winking at the same time. Yup, he'd found the evening's entertainment and he'd set about locking that down as soon as he pulled just a little more info from Mark.
Mark chuckled as though the idea was absurd. "Nah. She's just a friend."
Les raised one eyebrow at Mark, challenging that statement. Never? He knew Mark a little too well to buy that. Mark held up his hands in a gesture that said 'slow down' and said, "Never. I mean, I had a crush on her a few years back, just before Janine got pregnant with Sophie; G's cool, she's fine as hell and she's a blast to hang out with, so yeah, I thought about it. I brought it up to her, tried to convince her to give us a shot but she wouldn't. She said it was a bad idea, that it 'wasn't in the cards for us'. So I acted like a dick, of course, said some mean shit and told her I didn't want to talk to her. She cried and told me she'd be waiting if I changed my mind." He paused, remembering the conversation he was sharing with the three men before shaking his head.
"Anyway, she was the first person I called when I found out Janine was pregnant. It'd been, what? Four months, maybe five? She picked me up, didn't say shit about all the stuff I said to her before, got me good and drunk and the next day sat me down and helped me figure out what I was going to do. And now here I am, Mayor of Titty City." He finished with a lopsided grin on his stylishly unshaven face.
All four men laughed boisterously, clinked glasses, and finished their drinks. Mark excused himself to attend to some business, Vince headed for a seat closer to the stage, and Bobby went off in search of his Korean bed partner. As Les threw down cash for a tip and made his way to the blond, he did his best to ignore the additional questions that sprang to mind about the woman he'd met today and quash the desire to have them answered. He'd decided years ago that his interest in women would begin carnally and end casually and immediately. It was easier that way.