Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Chapter 2

Step Two: Try to avoid new problems

The next day the Mary Lou I have known all my life was back. She told me all about her children and how hard Lenny was working that I even got the impression that she wanted to justify Lenny's behaviour to herself.

That was good. Very good. Now it was legitimate for me to freak out for the both of us.

Or so I thought.

Unfortunately for me, her understanding didn't last long.

As soon as we made ourselves comfy at the beach once more – to my utter chagrin – she analysed every supposedly husband and father we came across and how far he was involved in the family workings.

Soon she was ranting again about how dispassionate and uninterested Lenny was and that she had the feeling that he wouldn't care about her and her daily life.

Once in a while the fleeting thought crossed my mind that she could be pregnant, but I knew for a fact that she wasn't. I guess, otherwise the mood swings would have been much, much, much worse…

"Hello ladies," someone interrupted one of our seldom but nonetheless much appreciated silences.

There he was, the coconut-man.

Why wasn't I as surprised to see him as I should have been? Guess all those maniacs breaking into my apartment in the middle of the night did quite the job in toughening me…

"Yo," I automatically greeted and gained a surprised grin from him. Then he flashed me a broad smile, quite similar to those Ranger smiles – but not as bright, or sexy.

"You know," Mary Lou said. "It's really funny that we're seeing you again this soon."

Martouf scratched one side of his head with a silly expression on his face. "Well, how can you expect me to stay away from two so lovely ladies such as you are?"

Nice, real nice. He kind of overdid it for my liking with all his compliments. Or maybe I was too suspicious because I was only used to good old innuendoes from the men back home. Well, thinking about it, that's kind of sad actually…

However, Mary Lou's uncharacteristic giggle brought me back to the situation at hand, showing me how serious my best friend's emotional status really was that caused her to behave like that because of the mere presence of a male. Plus making it obvious how extremely attention-deprived she was from Lenny.

That was sad, too.

"Enjoying your time, ladies? I hope you like it here in Spain so far." Martouf asked, seemingly trying to set up a conversation that wouldn't cause Mary Lou to reduce herself to a little schoolgirl. Well, I at least hoped that was his intention – though I highly doubted it.

"You mean right now?" Mary Lou attempted to clarify before a mischievous smile spread across her face. "Oh yeah."

Dear God. Tell me she didn't just say that like that. I felt like I was catapulted back to our High School time. On the other hand, just thinking about me behaving that exact same way while trying to hit on Morelli made me sick. Yikes.

"It's nice," I hastily said, trying to bring the conversation on safer ground.

To his credit, he did not look at all freaked out by Mary Lou's not so subtle advances. However, despite his cool and brash demeanour I couldn't help but feel reminded of Ranger when he had to face Grandma Mazur.

Unconsciously a gleeful smile made its way on my face, successfully kicking away the frown that had appeared because of the disturbing reminder of my youth. Oh yes, it was always immense fun to watch Ranger squirm when being confronted with my still overly hormonal grandmother…

"Did you plan anything for today?" Martouf inquired with a sincere expression of curiosity in his eyes.

"No, not really," I said, instantly moody again. Spain was a beautiful country – as far as I had been able to observe through the window on the plane; but that was about it. I knew nothing else. I didn't know anything about the towns or cities nearby, about the people living here, about the culture. I was in Europe for once in my life and I couldn't even do anything except for lying at the beach and sunbathe.

Well, maybe I was exaggerating a little seeing as it was only our second day in Spain, but I felt strange. There was an exciting twist in my stomach telling me about an oncoming storm and I just had no clue what it was that I would have to face. I trusted my spidey sense and I knew I was in for something… unsuspecting. That of course led me to the two men in my life. Sure, the possibility of Morelli or Ranger following me here to Spain had crossed my mind once or twice, but I had told them not to come look for me in the note that I left for them.

And they better did as I wished.

I knew they would be worried about me and the fact that I felt the need to disappear just like that, but hey, at least this time I did give them a brief explanation in form of a short note. Morelli should be happy about this, considering that one time when I called him to tell him I was in Las Vegas with Connie and Lula before he even knew anything about our trip…

Grudgingly, I had to face the fact that neither Morelli nor Ranger would listen to my wishes if they felt it necessary for my health or their male satisfaction to force their own plans on me. I had let them do that to me for long enough now, and if they really did come here, thus disregarding my request, they would be in for some serious trouble…

"Stop brooding already!" Mary Lou suddenly shrieked and I winced. "Geez, you'd think the world came crashing down by the frown on your face!"

I raised an eyebrow at her. Anybody sexually frustrated here apart from me? Absolutely. It was a good thing that I was beginning to support my new theory of Martouf being the kind of man that liked to flirt without going to the extreme – otherwise I would have been very worried about Mary Lou's future actions. I mean look at me, I did too really stupid things when I was horny, especially with Ranger, that left me in the end only more sexually frustrated than before…

"Mary Lou," I solemnly declared. "We need to do something."

Now it was her turn to quirk an eyebrow. "Steph, Hon, we are doing something."

"Oh yeah? Then tell me, what are we doing?"

"We're lying at the beach… observing," she mysteriously said in a stage whisper.

"Observing?" I incredulously repeated. "Are you Miss Marple or what?"

She looked actually thoughtful for a moment. "Didn't we play Miss Marple when we were younger?"

Well, that was true. But our days then had been filled with snooping around in the neighbourhood, discovering imaginary crime scenes.

"I really need to do something," I forcefully replied. "My mind is already all mushy and chaotic."

Mary Lou rolled her eyes in proper Burg style. "Steph, your mind is always mushy and chaotic. Most of all when men are concerned."

Mmh, if you look at it that way…

I looked up to the male who listened closely to our conversation, amusement clearly written all over his face. Martouf smiled at us, presenting us two rows of blinking white teeth. He did definitely smile too much to be one of the Merry Men. What a bummer! I would have very much enjoyed it to see everybody in the Burg swooning over him while I was already on first name basis with him. If he did visit sometime… you know. That would have been cool.

"Where're your men anyway? Didn't they want to join their ladies on the journey to use the chance and enjoy themselves far away from work and such?" Martouf asked, obviously trying to pry into the Steph-always-has-men-problems-thing. Thanks Mary Lou. Let everyone think I'm incapable of interacting with the male sex. Martouf seemed to notice my peeved mood and added, "I didn't mean to offend you. But I'm curious as to what caused them to let two very beautiful women travel on their own to a foreign country full of red-blooded males."

Sounded definitely better this way… if you disregarded the fact that either one of Morelli and Ranger would have probably jumped at the idea of sending me to a safe place for a while if they had just known beforehand that I planned to leave the country for an unlimited amount of time.

Mary Lou was also unhappy with that topic if it was any indication how uneasily she was tinkering with her neon pink sunglasses.

"Well… They didn't really have any say in that matter," she elusively said.

Martouf cocked his head to the side and looked inquiringly at me. I just shrugged in return. "The purpose of this trip is to kind of avoid them for some time."

He chuckled. "Sounds bad."

Both Mary Lou and I grunted our agreement.

He clapped his hands together excitedly, looking suspiciously like a little kid on Christmas Eve. "How about I make sure you'll forget about them altogether and just have a fun time?"

Yes, please!

"And how are you going to do that?" Mary Lou asked a little wary and I was relieved to see a spark of her true self that wouldn't trust a stranger completely despite being smitten with him.

"You'll just have to wait and see," winked Martouf. "Go to 'La sol' down the boardwalk," he advised.

He said his goodbyes and went on yelling "Coconuts" all over the beach.

Silence emitted once again, leaving each one of us to our own thoughts.

I risked a glance at my best friend and instantly met hers.

"I want to go," Mary Lou simply stated.

I eyed her critically. "Okay. I want to go too."

"Okay," she said. We looked at each other and smiled. Somehow I felt myself reminded of the good old times when she and I would sneak off to some parties in the middle of the night. I had felt the same connection with her like I was feeling now. I had to admit it felt good to spend some time with my best friend away from the Burg and the problems that awaited us there. Although it was only borrowed time.

"I like him, you know," Mary Lou uncertainly continued. "He's such a free spirit, so spontaneous and carefree. Just like Lenny and I had been before the kids came."

Well, children did have a knack for changing one's life.

"I guess I just sometimes wish Lenny would still see me as a woman and not just as the mother of his kids."

Finally she talked about the core of the whole problem.

"I'm sure you're overreacting," I tried to soothe. "Maybe it is because Lenny and you have been together for so long that he doesn't feel it's necessary to show his affections towards you, but don't believe for a second that he only sees you as a birth machine."

She cracked a tired smile and squeezed my hand gratefully.

And it was at that moment that I made a terrible mistake.

"I mean he certainly takes you out to a restaurant once in a while. Just the two of you, right?"

She looked up and shook her head lightly. "No."

"But he does bring you flowers?"

Her lips began to quiver and she shook her head again.

"Candy?"

Tears glimmered in her eyes and I frowned.

"Not even cake?"

And the dam broke and the floodgates opened.

Damn.

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In the early afternoon Mary Lou too had enough of sunbathing and we decided to stroll along the boardwalk and check out the bistros and restaurants. Halfway we found 'La sol', the bistro Martouf had been talking about.

Nosily we entered and instantly became spectators of an angry, passionate and very loud dispute between two Spanish men who looked like they were in their mid-twenties.

Tentatively Mary Lou and I seated ourselves at one of the round tables near the exit, just in case, you know. There were no other customers present and for a moment I entertained the idea of quickly leaving again – if one of the men hadn't suddenly noticed our presence.

Eventually one of the men stopped his Spanish yelling and looked over to us, his hands hanging redundantly in the middle of the air and his dark eyes blazing with fire.

Hissing something to his counterpart he gave us a tight smile before disappearing behind the counter.

The other man only rolled his eyes and sauntered over to us, a charming smile on his lips. As he stood at our table he said something in rapid Spanish and looked expectantly at us.

Cluelessly we stared back at him.

Amusement filled his eyes as he chuckled. "I take it you don't speak our lovely language, guapas?" he said, his voice laced with a heavy accent that was pretty cute.

"Nope," Mary Lou said and took one of the menus he was offering us.

"Have you ever been to Spain before?" he went on asking while very obviously checking me out. Though it did wonders to my ego to be admired by a young man, it did make me feel kind of exposed.

"Nope," Mary Lou answered again, smirking as she watched me being agitated.

Scowling at her, I turned and tried to take the second menu from the waiter, but he refused to let go for a long moment until I looked up into his eyes and then he said, "Then let me give you a tour of all the important places around here, especially those for two." He winked at me.

"Are all Spanish men flirts?" I asked, ignoring his innuendo and Mary Lou's laughter.

He smirked smugly. "Ah, no, only mi amigo Martouf and I." He glanced at Mary Lou. "If you stay a little longer I'll introduce you to him."

"Not necessary," my best friend chirped cheerfully. "We already met him."

"You did?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, smirk still firmly in place.

"Yeah," I said. "At the beach, yesterday."

"And today," Mary Lou helpfully said.

"Oh!" the waiter exclaimed, his eyes shining with glee. "It's you!" He looked us up and down with new-found interest. "Martouf has already told me about you." He stuck his hand out to a stunned Mary Lou. "I'm Raúl. You must be Mary Lou, right?"

After shaking her hand he kissed both of her cheeks.

Turning to me he also kissed either side of my face before grinning seductively at me and brushing his lips across the back of my hand. "So, you're Stephanie. How convenient."

I'm quite sure I blushed deep crimson like a little schoolgirl. I was no better than Mary Lou.

Raúl straightened himself again. "Las discotecas in Lloret de Mar are quite famous. Do us the honour and accompany Martouf and I tonight."

Before I had time to react Mary Lou happily agreed and Raúl left with a last wink to walk over to the counter. Well, at least now we had something to do…

It was five in the afternoon when we returned to our hotel rooms.

A small package lay on the floor as I unlocked my door. I felt my heart pound painfully in my chest as I looked carefully around the room for anything suspicious. Picking up the package I searched for a clue as to who the addresser might be, but couldn't find anything.

Opening it against my better judgement I pulled out a single white card with the word "Babe" written on it and a stun gun.

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Flashback

"I really don't know why you insist on me carrying a gun," she said, looking pointedly at the little hole in Lula's red Firebird. "I can't shoot anyone. Even if I try I hit everything but the lunatic."

He only looked amused, his dark eyes looking steadily into her blue ones. He was still on alert as his tense body showed, ready to react in any moment if necessary.

"I'm your boss. I need to make sure you're safe."

She snorted. "I'm never safe. I could be equipped with several guns, knives and stun guns and I'd probably still be a hopeless case."

He smirked.

"Probably."

She couldn't find any amusement in her situation and fixed him with a fierce glare.

"Stop making me carry the gun."

"Stop bringing yourself in dangerous situations," he shot back.

"That's not fair!" she indignantly exclaimed. "It's my job to be in danger."

"Very true," he admitted before adding, "And that's why you need to make precautions like carrying a gun."

She rolled her eyes. "Fine. But let me at least only carry a stun gun."

"What's with you and the stun gun? As far as I know you seem to actually like using it," he said before giving her a broad grin. "Especially on my men."

"We have a truce," she said, ignoring his last comment.

Raising an eyebrow, he asked, "A truce? With the stun gun?"

"Yeah," she slowly said. "We're working good together, don't you think? I mean ask your men."

He chuckled deeply before slinging an arm around her shoulders and closing the gap between them. Kissing her forehead, he whispered, "Only you, Babe. Only you."

End Flashback