Disclaimer : Not mine! I just play with them. Although I'd love to have a Ranger-action figure. Or blowup doll, that works too..

This chapter is not so much thinking and humor, but talking and explaining. I tried three times to add humor into it, but it wouldn't cooperate, so blame the popcorn I'm eating. I'd eat PB & J, but I ran out of bread.

Here ya goo..

Ranger froze up, but he pulled me closer to him than before.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, holding me to the point that it hurt.

"Ranger," I whimpered. He looked down at me and loosened his grip slightly, then looked back at the man in the doorway.

In a lot of ways, the man looked like Ranger : dark skin, chocolate brown eyes, black hair, although this man's was short. He was about 6'3 or so, and probably weighed a little more than Ranger.

The man looked at me, and then back at the man holding me.

"Ranger?" he asked, with a snort. "Still go by that?"

"What are you doing here?" Ranger repeated, keeping his hold on me.

"Why, Ric," the man said, chuckling, "I work here."

"Excuse me?"

I'd seen that look in Ranger's eye before -- the look of pure, cold fury.

"Ms. Plum," the man said pleasantly, "Would you accompany me? I need to get your stateme-"

"The hell you do," Ranger said, pushing past the man and exiting Vinnie's office, me still in his grasp.

"Why, Mr. Manoso," said the man, "I would hate to pull rank on you, but legally, I am to collect her statement on what happened. I'm going to have to ask you to stay here." Before either Ranger or I could reply, the man had drug me back into Vinnie's office, slamming the door in Ranger's very-pissed face.

"Now," the man said, "Let me properly introduce myself. My name is Andy Martinez. I'm a newbie at the Police Department, so bear with me."

"How do you know Ranger?"

The man threw back his head and laughed. "Later, my bella," he said. "Now, I must get your statement of what happened."

So I told him. He didn't seem too surprised that it was my SUV that had went boom.. I guess the guys at the station had already filled him in.

He was polite throughout the whole ordeal, getting only the details, and then he let me go.

A very pissed-off Ranger was waiting on the other side of the door.

"Come," he said, his voice dark with rage. He led me out of the building, and away from the scene.

"Get in," he ordered, opening the passenger side of his Porsche. I obediently got in, deciding that now was not the time to object.

Silently, he slammed my door a little too hard, then got in on the driver's side, started the car, and took off a little too fast.

I opened my mouth to ask him what the deal was, when he shot me a "talk-and-die" look.

"Later," he said, his voice still full of anger.

I nodded and kept my mouth closed. Ranger did not go straight back to RangeMan as I had expected, but again, I decided not to ask.

Judging from the whiteness of his knuckles on the steering wheel, I figured I'd best stay quiet.

"Do you remember," he said finally, after driving around the streets of Trenton for about twenty minutes, "asking me about Chris and Lissie's father?"

I frowned at him, but nodded.

Ranger shot me a side-ways glance, and I saw the seriousness in his eyes.

"Tia got married when she was only 18," he said, his voice dull. "She married a real manipulative bastard, but she wouldn't listen to us when we warned her. So, Chris was born."

Ranger paused, rubbing his face with one hand. "That's when things started going downhill," he said. "Tia stopped going out of the house, Chris wasn't going to day-care, and soon her ass of a husband was the only one anybody ever saw."

I began to see where this was going, and didn't like it one bit.

"Then, Lissie was born."

I watched him as he pulled over to the side of the road, then he turned to face me fully.

"My entire familyis always in danger because of me, Stephanie, that is why I do not do relationships."

I opened my mouth to speak, but he shook his head. "No, listen to me. I'm not a popular person, and I'm not very well liked by quite a few people. Tia's husband began working for one of those people."

He stared at me, watching as realization dawned on my face. "He tried to kill her," I whispered.

Ranger nodded. "Would have succeeded, too. He was heartless, and would have killed her without any second thoughts. Only thing is, he himself didn't want to be harmed in any way. I payed him a considerable amount of money and a not-so-empty threat in agreement to him leaving Trenton and never coming back."

"So," I started, "not that I'm not glad you told me that, but why.."

Ranger was still turned in his seat, facing me. He reached out and tucked a stray curl behind my ear.

"Tia's last name is Martinez," he said softly.

Marti-

Andy Martinez.

Ranger nodded, seeing my expression. "Andy Martinez was paid to stay away from here, and he's back. That is why I was as hostile as I was."

"But why is he back?" I asked, more to myself.

Ranger gave me a long, considering look, then nodded slightly to himself.

"You know that he tried to kill her," he said. "What I didn't stress is that, he was in the act of doing so."

I froze. "But.. how-"

"Tony."

Ranger watched my reaction carefully. "Tony," I repeated.

Nod. "Tony is a street-wise kid, but he's quiet. People tend to talk more around quiet people. Tony heard about the arrangement, kill Tia to get to me. He called me and told me what was going on, but he got there before I did." Ranger's voice wavered slightly, "Martinez had the knife to her throat when he finally broke in, gun aimed and cocked."

"So Tony's not just quiet around me?" That made me feel a little better.

A little.

"Tony has seen some fucked up shit," Ranger said bluntly. "He isn't Diego, but he isn't heartless. You jumped to conclusions when you met him, so you have the wrong idea of him."

I cringed at his words, because although they were not meant to be hateful, they stung. "I just-"

Ranger shook his head. "It's fine," he said, turning and starting the car. "I'm just warning you, stay away from Martinez."

"Why is he back?" I repeated.

Ranger caught my eye in the rearview mirror, and for the first time, I saw a shimmer of fear.

"I don't know," he confessed. "I have an assumption, but I have no proof of it."

"What's your assumption?"

This time, Ranger was silent for awhile longer.

"He knows I have a daughter," he said finally. "And it's too coincidental that he happens to show up here the same day as my daughter does."

My eyes widened. The fucker wanted Adriel.

"Why does he want to get to you so bad?" I asked.

This time, Ranger shook his head. "I can't tell you that," he said. "We need to go to the hospital to make sure Lester and Hal are okay, then we can head back to RangeMan."

"Mmkay."

He looked over at me. "Are you going to stay in your apartment or mine?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

I knew what he was talking about. Technically, he and I were just "friends", but lately I'd been spending more nights in his bed than my own. I'd like to say it was only because there was some pseudo-psycho clown stalker after me, but I had been staying in his apartment before the clown thing started.

And after all, Rex was at his apartment.

"Yours," I said, "If that's okay."

"It's fine," he said. We were about to pull into the parking lot for the hospital when his cell phone rang.

"Yo.. What?" His voice grew indignant, and once again was full of rage. "We'll be right there. Have all men drop everything. DO IT."

He slammed the phone shut, then threw it across the dash. I cringed.

"What's wrong?" I asked him, scooting closer to my door.

He glanced at me, and when he spoke, his voice shook.

"Adriel is missing."

Mk, I want at least five reviews for thischapter or I ain't updating until then :-"

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