Thank you for waiting patiently, this chapter ended up taking me longer than I thought. Thank you for all your feedback, you guys are the best. I hope you like.
Please let me know what you think, your reviews mean the world to me!
Merci beaucoup Stayce, it just wouldn't work without you!
I borrowed the title from Bon Jovi, not from the story, but I do think it fits
Disclaimer: The usual, I don't own anything, it's all JE's. Well, the plot is mine, but since I'm stealing the characters, I'm SOL. And I'm just assuming that you've read all the books, but if you haven't there may be spoilers.
Rating: R for adult language and situations. They're all adults and they talk and act like it…read at your own risk.
Living on a Prayer
Chapter 10
I hardly noticed Ranger prying the phone from my hand once I was lying on the couch. I was having the out-of-body experience again, I could see and hear Ranger, but I couldn't talk to him and his touch didn't register.
"It's okay," he said, "it's gonna be fine, Babe." Probably he was talking to me.
I heard strange whimpering noises and didn't even realize I was the one making them at first.
Ranger lifted me up and placed me in his lap as he sat down. He was rocking me gently and whispering to me. I heard the words but could not understand them; I wasn't even able to determine whether they were Spanish or English.
"Can you tell me what happened?" Ranger asked after a long while, I had no idea how he knew exactly when I was able to understand him again.
"What happened?" I asked. My brain was still playing catch-up; I couldn't remember how I ended up on Ranger's lap.
"You were on the phone," Ranger said and pushed a strand of hair out of my face, "Do you remember calling anyone?" His voice was completely calm, his eyes searching mine.
Slowly, painfully, the memory came back. Joe's message. The voicemail he left the morning he had died.
"Babe?" Ranger's voice brought me back into the present. I was staring straight ahead without seeing anything, my eyes filling with tears. I turned my head slowly to face Ranger; I was still trying to form words and force them out of my mouth.
"It's…there was a…Joe…" I stuttered. Ranger waited patiently, stroking my back to encourage me. I tried to take a deep breath, but that didn't help. Joe's face kept looming up in front of me.
Ranger put his hand on the back of my neck and gently pushed me forward, so that my head was resting on his shoulder. I could feel his body heat and hear his heart beat. It calmed me more than any words could have done.
At some point, I closed my eyes and just concentrated on breathing. Ranger was kneading my shoulder, working out the tension.
Finally, I lifted my head and met Ranger's eyes. I took a deep breath and pulled back, slipping off Ranger's lap.
"I'm sorry. I'm okay now." I said and moved to get up, but Ranger caught my wrist.
"Okay enough to tell me what happened?" He asked. I sighed. I needed to tell him so that he wouldn't think it was a new message from Teddy that had freaked me out, but I didn't know if I could get the words out without crying. I studied my feet for a moment, standing in front of Ranger. He didn't push me; this man's patience seemed endless.
"It...there was a message from Joe on my phone." I said. Ranger released my wrist immediately and stood up.
"I'm sorry, Babe." He said softly. I nodded and sniffled. "Sorry I lost it…it just…it took me by surprise."
"Don't apologize, Babe." Ranger said and pulled me into a hug. "No one expects you to be over it."
"I thought I was getting better." I admitted, my cheek against Ranger's shirt. He ran his fingers through my hair. "You are. It just takes time," he said.
I sighed again and Ranger hugged me a little tighter. "I think you're doing great, Babe. You're strong."
Even though I didn't feel strong, it was good to hear from Ranger that he thought I was. His faith in me was keeping me sane.
"Do you want to tell me what he said?" Ranger asked softly, his mouth near my ear. I realized he was wondering if Joe had left any clues that might help us. I shook my head slightly "Nothing that…" I had to swallow to keep from sobbing, "No clues or anything."
I felt Ranger nod against my head and then he planted a kiss on my hair. I wanted to stay like this forever. Standing so close to Ranger, it seemed nothing could hurt me, ever.
Ranger's pager buzzed on his tool belt and the moment was over. He cursed colorfully and pulled back to check the readout.
I slumped back onto the couch, feeling a little more like myself. My cell phone was on the coffee table where Ranger had put it. I realized I'd never gotten to check the rest of my 30-odd messages, but I couldn't' bring myself to pick it back up. Ranger followed my gaze and picked up my phone.
"That was the control room. I'm gonna check on it. Do you mind if I listen to the message myself? Want me to check your other messages, Babe?" I smiled up at him gratefully and nodded. "Thank you." I said. Ranger did his almost-nod and pocketed my phone. Then he picked up his own and punched in a number.
"Talk." He said. After listening for less than a minute, he shut his phone and looked at me. "There's movement at Gardner's house." He said. I jumped up.
"He's there?" Ranger shook his head slightly. "No, another guy is. Cal and Junior are on it."
"Are we going?" I asked, suddenly excited at the thought of action.
"Cal and Junior are on it." Ranger repeated calmly and pushed me back onto the couch. "I think you've had enough excitement for one day. They're gonna keep us updated." I could tell by his tone of voice that it wasn't worth arguing.
"I'll be in my study for a bit to check your messages, then I'll be back. You're okay?"
I nodded and sent him a reassuring smile. "I'm fine." I said for the umpteenth time. Maybe if I said it often enough, I'd believe it.
I was grateful Ranger was listening to my voicemail. My mom's messages would make me feel guilty and there was a chance there were more messages from Joe. And I wasn't sure I could handle hearing Teddy's voice just yet, maybe he'd called, too. Ranger was able to hear all those voices with professional detachment; probably they didn't affect him at all.
I wandered into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge. What I really wanted was a beer, but I knew that was a bad idea in my current state. My headache was only just starting to retreat and I had enough painkillers in me to kill a small animal.
I could hear Ranger rummaging in his office just off the living room. It was past 6 PM and dark outside. I wandered around the apartment aimlessly, distracting myself with random thoughts, like why there weren't any pictures on the walls and where the real bat cave was. My mind was all too willing occupy itself with trivial questions rather than facing life-or-death decisions.
"Deep thoughts, babe?" Ranger's voice startled me, I hadn't heard him approach. I was standing at the window, looking out into the night, and I flinched at the sound of his voice.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." He said softly and squeezed my shoulder from behind me. I turned around and smiled to show him he hadn't done any harm. "It's okay. I just didn't hear you."
He put his arm around me and we looked out the window together for a minute, both lost in our thoughts.
"Any update?" I asked when the silence between us had stretched on for too long.
"They're following a car. Whoever entered the house had a key, maybe he was there to pick up some stuff for Gardner and is taking it to him." Ranger said.
I had a flashback to my first failure-to-appear, my first case as a bounty hunter: Joe. By sheer coincidence I'd been parked outside Joe's apartment building when his cousin Mooch appeared, and Mooch had led me straight to Joe. I excused myself when I felt the tears sting again, I did not want to break down in front of Ranger again. I made it to the bathroom just in time and sat down on the toilet.
As I was sniffling into my bunched up toilet paper I was wondering if this would happen for the rest of my life. How many times a day would I be reminded of Joe, of something he did or said. I was going to continue living in Trenton; I would go to places I'd gone to with Joe. Would I break down and cry every time something reminded me of him? I sighed and decided I was not in the mood to think about it, once I gave myself permission to break down and mope, I would wonder about how long the thought of Joe would make me cry, not now.
A soft knock on the door brought my focus back to the here and now.
"Babe?" Ranger asked. I knew he just wanted to know if I was okay, but all I wanted was to be alone for a minute. "I'll be right out." I said, hoping that would satisfy him.
"You've been in there for an hour, is everything okay?" Oh, now it made sense that he was worried. I'd completely lost track of time.
Before I could answer, Ranger opened the door. Damn, I'd forgotten to lock it. He took one look at me, crossed the room in three strides and picked me up to carry me over to his bed. I must have looked pretty pitiful.
"I can walk." I protested weakly as he tucked me in. "I know." He said.
He turned to go but I grabbed his hand. "Stay with me." A minute ago, I couldn't wait to be alone, now the thought scared me. Ranger looked like he had an inner debate before he lay down on the covers and gathered me up in his arms. I relaxed completely. Crying had worn me out, I was exhausted, and I fell asleep within minutes.
When I woke up, I was alone in the bed and sunlight filtered in through the blinds. I'd slept through the night without waking up once! I felt better physically, my headache was just a low hum anymore and my leg burned less. All the other cuts were healing nicely. So at least physically, I was getting better. My emotions were a whole other issue. Hearing Joe's voice had unhinged me.
The bedside alarm clock told me it was 7 AM and my rumbling stomach told me I'd missed dinner. I got up and padded over to the bathroom. A new stack of clothes had been laid out for me. I looked at my rumpled self in the mirror. My hair looked like it had taken 2000 volts, and since I'd slept in my clothes, everything was wrinkled. My eyes were puffy and bloodshot. In short, I was a mess.
I stripped and turned on the shower. After a half hour of the massage stream on my sore muscles, I felt a lot better. I styled my hair the best way possible and gave myself another look in the mirror. Although the cuts and bruises didn't hurt too badly anymore, I was still a scary sight, so I dressed quickly. Ella knew my size, and doubt that she was the one who laid out the underwear, sock, jeans and sweatshirt for me.
Coffee aroma greeted me when I stepped out of the bedroom into the dining room, and Ranger looked up from a stack of papers.
"Morning, Babe. How're you feeling today?" He asked.
I flashed him a genuine smile. "A lot better. Thanks to you. No nightmares last night."
"That's good." He said and returned to his papers when I passed him to get myself some coffee.
"So what's new?" I asked when I joined him at the dining table. I helped myself to a bagel from the basket and sat down. "Did Cal and Junior ever call back?"
Ranger looked up. "I would have gotten you up in a few minutes. We have a meeting at 0800 to hear all the details." He said. His hair was still damp from the shower, and he was dressed in his usual black t-shirt and cargo pants.
"Any messages from him on my mailbox?" Ranger just shook his head slightly. "How many from my mom?"
Ranger's lip quirked up in a half-smile. "About ten. I hope you don't mind, I called her to let her know you're alright and staying with me."
I almost choked on my coffee. "You told her I was staying with you?" Now Ranger was actually smiling. "No, I told her you were staying at RangeMan, I didn't tell her you were sleeping in my bed." I let out the breath I was holding.
"Thank you for staying last night." I said, swallowing hard to keep my voice steady.
He just nodded, sorted his papers into a loose pile, picked up his coffee and looked at me as he was taking a sip. "You sure you're up for this?"
I knew what he meant. How many times was he going to ask me? Yes, already! I bit my tongue to keep the snippiness in. "I am. Sure and up for it." I said as I buttered my bagel. Ranger's eyes didn't leave mine. "If you're sure…" He finally said and took another sip from his coffee.
By the time I finished breakfast it was time to go. Ella had found a pair of CAT boots in my size and had put them in the foyer. I was glad I didn't have to wear my ratty sneakers again.
Ranger and I rode the elevator down in silence, but I could feel his eyes on me, monitoring me. I sent him a reassuring smile.
The Merry Men were already assembled in the conference room when we arrived.
Tank got up and hugged me again, and I couldn't help but wonder if Ranger had told him about my breakdown the night before. Lester smiled at me, Cal and Junior nodded. I took my seat between Tank and Ranger again.
Ranger looked at Cal and Cal cleared his throat. "At 1745 last night, we witnessed an individual entering the perp's apartment," He glanced at his notes, "Suspect's name it Martin Ashton, no relation to the perp. We followed him as he left, but he drove to his residence on 23 Lincoln. A team is in place to monitor that apartment."
I sighed. I didn't know what I had expected, whether I'd wanted them to find Teddy or not.
"Team Beta took over at the perp's apartment at 0600 and their last sitrep was NTP."
Tank leaned over to me and whispered "Nothing to report." I smiled at him gratefully. I wasn't quite familiar with military speak.
Cal looked at Ranger to signal he was done. Ranger looked at his notes. "The victim left two messages on Steph's cell phone." He said and my eyes got wide. Two? Joe had called twice?? Why hadn't Ranger told me? Ranger looked at me and I got the silent message that he would tell me later. "Both coincide with the timeline. The perp hasn't made contact since we found Steph."
Tank was next. "We got the in-depth search results back, but there was nothing out of the ordinary there either. This guy's a regular Joe." I sucked in some air at that and Tank immediately looked guilt. "I'm sorry, Steph, I wasn't thinking!" He put his hand on mine and I was still taking deep breaths. 'Get a grip!' I told myself, 'It's a saying for Christ's sake!'. "It's okay." I said and sent him a shaky smile. When I glanced at Ranger, he looked like Tank hadn't heard the end of it yet, but he didn't say anything.
Tank cleared his throat and finished up with "Nothing to report on the perp, as far as his background check is concerned."
Ranger gave Tank a dirty look and took over. "Where do we stand proactively?" He asked.
"Well, Steph's suggestion…" Tank started but Ranger cut him off. "Other than that."
"Boss, it's pretty much all we got." Tank said. Ha, I knew it. They needed me. I turned to face Ranger. His expression was unreadable.
"We can plan this to be foolproof." Lester suggested. It went back and forth for a few minutes, but I could sense Ranger was warming up to the idea.
He was quiet for a minute and when he sighed, I knew my idea had won.
"I'm going back to my apartment tomorrow." I announced. Ranger nodded. "And I'll pick you up the day after tomorrow." My eyebrows shot up to my hairline. "We're going on a public trip to get some privacy." He explained. I still wasn't getting it. "Come again?" I asked.
"You'll go back to your apartment tomorrow, hopefully long enough for Gardner to spot you. Then I pick you up to take you on a mini-vacation to a location we can control better."
Oh, okay. For a moment I'd thought Ranger had already changed his mind.
We spent the next half hour fleshing out the plan. I would be watched around the clock, in addition to wearing a wire and a GPS tracker. I didn't object, I had no desire to be abducted again.
"Just one more question…" I said when the meeting was about to wrap up. Ranger motioned for me to go on. "Is this a romantic getaway we're going on?"
Ranger nodded. "Like you suggested, two birds with one stone. I think we can push all his buttons when I appear to be your new boyfriend."
"But you said…" I tried to interrupt, but Ranger held up his hand. "That's another reason for leaving Trenton for this little game. We're not going far, but hopefully far enough to leave the Burg behind."
I was amazed at how Ranger had thought everything through so fast.
The next meeting was scheduled for 3:30 PM where everyone would get their assignments and the timelines would be set. I pushed my chair back and stood, feeling relieved. We'd be doing something! With any luck, we'd get Teddy to come out of hiding and get the son of a bitch, one way or another.
"Whatever you're thinking of, I hope it's not me," Ranger said into my thoughts, "That's about the most evil grin I've ever seen." He let his index finger touch my lips to emphasize his point.
"No, I was thinking of the takedown." I admitted. He nodded and led me out the door to the elevator. "I hope it ends up being the way you envision." He said on a smile.
"It's probably as good a time as any to call you parents." Ranger suggested when we got back to the apartment. "I told your mom you'd call as soon as possible." I rolled my eyes but knew I had to get it over with. I didn't want my family to worry unnecessarily.
Ranger went into his study to work and I took a deep breath and called my mom.
"Stephanie Plum, it's about time you called! Don't you know I'm losing my mind worrying about you? What were you thinking?" Mom started before I had a chance to even say hello. I could feel my eye starting to twitch already. "I'm fine, mom, it's just been a very hectic couple days."
"So Ranger said. But that's no excuse to not at least check in. Mabel Carini never has to wait for her daughter to call, and she sees her more than once in a while, too." I rolled my eyes. Obviously my mom had decided that my life had to go on, and my time to grieve was over. I declined her dinner invitation and promised I'd call more often before I hung up. Thank goodness she didn't bring up my living arrangements with Ranger.
I called my best friend Mary Lou next because I hadn't checked in with her in a while either. She still had the tone in her voice that sounded like she wanted to tell me how sorry she was, but at least she didn't say it. Before we disconnected, she told me to call her anytime if I needed to talk. I promised her I would make some time for us to get together soon and made a mental note to call her for my scheduled breakdown when all this was over.
Lula was next on my list and, as expected she almost screamed my ear off when she heard it was me, scolded me for not updating her earlier and made me promise to call her again soon. Yeesh. I'd be on the phone nonstop if I fulfilled all my promises. But it felt good to hear Mare and Lula's voices; I realized how much I missed them in the past few days. My only contact had been with Ranger, I was missing my girlfriends.
Since Ranger still had my cell phone, I was making the calls on his. I still had to ask him about the second call from Joe, but I wasn't sure I could handle it. I'd been good all through the meeting, but I didn't know how much longer it would last.
When all my calls were done, I got myself a bottle of water and some Advil from the kitchen and sat down on the couch in the living room. I didn't want to interrupt Ranger's work. I figured he was losing money by helping me and dedicating so many resources to it, the least I could do was not disturb him.
I switched on the TV and surfed around until I decided on watching mindless cartoons. Ranger joined me an hour later and just raised an eyebrow when he saw what was on.
"Let's go get some lunch before you get cabin fever." He said and winked at me. I liked the idea. This morning's bagel hadn't lasted me long. I snuck into the bathroom to check my hair and reapply my make-up. Now that I had my purse back, I had all the supplies I needed and I could double-up on the mascara for confidence.
Ranger took me to Pino's in his black Porsche. I appreciated the effort, he knew I loved both.
The lunch crowd hadn't arrived yet, so we didn't have to wait for a table. While we were waiting for our pizza to arrive, I toasted Ranger with my Coke. "Thank you. I needed this." I said.
Ranger smiled and raised his own glass. "I know." He said.
The pizza was good and greasy, and because Ranger's body is more of a temple than mine, he only ate two pieces and I had the rest. He shook his head slightly when I was eyeing the last slice. "Good to see your appetite is back." He said and smiled.
Carl Costanza and Big Dog were having their lunch at Pino's, too. They came over to our table and took a moment to make sure I was okay. I had tears in my eyes when Carl hugged me and told me to call him any time, day or night, but I managed to smile at him gratefully.
"Take care, Steph." Big Dog said and they left.
When we left the restaurant, Ranger made sure he held the door for me, and he opened the car's passenger door for me as well. I knew what he was doing; he had already started to put the plan into action. I couldn't tell by watching him, but I knew he was 'looking over his shoulder', so to speak, completely aware of everyone around us, ready to pounce if Teddy would show up.
Ranger drove over to Hamilton and when he parked in front of the office, I turned to him curiously. "Are we picking up files? Does Vinnie have any skips for us?" I was excited at the idea of distraction. Ranger chuckled silently and turned to face me. The look in his eyes was easy to read, 'Yeah, right' it said.
"Just thought you might wanna say hi." He said and left the car, only to appear at my side 30 seconds later and again open the door for me. He was making us very visible, but because we were still in the Burg, he didn't touch me. At least I thought that was the reason.
Again he'd been right. It was like medicine to see Lula and Connie. I was hugged and squeezed, ushered onto the couch and given a donut. For once, neither Lula nor Connie spared Ranger a look.
"How're you holdin' up, girlfriend?" Lula wanted to know. I had to smile; she'd talked to me over the phone a couple hours ago, now she still needed to know in person.
I told them the truth, that I still wasn't feeling well. I didn't go into detail about my physical pain; I didn't want them to know anything about Teddy because I didn't want to endanger them. If Lula knew I was in trouble, she would probably have insisted on helping me. Probably Tank would tell her afterwards, and then I'd fess up. But until then, the fewer people who knew, the better, I decided.
It felt good to be out again, but after an hour in the office, I was getting tired. Lula and Connie didn't ask once why I'd appeared with Ranger, it seemed to be the most natural thing in the world. I told them I'd be back soon as I said goodbye and gave them a finger wave on my way out.
"We have a couple hours before the meeting," Ranger said when we were back in the car, "Why don't you try to take a nap? I'll wake you in time to get ready." I liked that idea, so when we got back to RangeMan, I went straight to Ranger's bedroom and lay down.
But I couldn't sleep; too many thoughts were racing in my head. Would it work? Was Teddy still in the area, and was he watching me? And if he was, could we catch him this time? What if he managed to trick Ranger the same way he tricked Joe?
I was lying spread-eagled on my back, staring at the ceiling when Ranger knocked on the door. He entered and raised an eyebrow when he saw I wasn't asleep. "Couldn't sleep?" He asked when he sat down on the bed. I shook my head no and sat up.
"Time for the meeting?" I asked, turning to see the alarm clock. It was 3 o'clock. "Almost," Ranger confirmed, "I wanted to give you some time to wake up and get ready." He tucked my hair behind my ear and smiled. "We can do this," He said, "And we'll do it right." He said it with so much confidence that I believed him completely.
I rolled off the bed and went into the bathroom to freshen up. Ranger was waiting for me in the foyer and we took the elevator down together. I sent him a reassuring smile before he could ask me how I was doing and he nodded. With Ranger so confident, I felt like I could do this, too.
The Merry Men joined us in the conference room and we immediately sprang into action. Ranger picked up his notes and read them off. "Tank. You're the Alpha team on this one, sitreps every 30 minutes, emergency response on stand-by." Tank nodded.
"Lester," Ranger continued, "You'll be the Beta team." I didn't know if Tank and Lester would know who their teammates were automatically or if they got to choose them, but I didn't want to interrupt. RangeMan was like a well-oiled machine, and I knew they'd done this sort of thing before.
"Bobby," Ranger was saying, "You're the Charlie team on this one. Get some rest before you're on." Bobby nodded.
"All local teams will stay in place until we have a confirmed sighting." I figured that meant the Merry Men that were watching Teddy's houses.
"At 0800 tomorrow morning, Steph will leave to return to her apartment." Ranger looked at me, but I didn't know if he was asking me or telling me, so again I stayed quiet.
"At 1200 on Thursday, I will pick her up and we will publicly leave for Point Pleasant, Alpha team will follow us, Beta team will meet us there." Everyone nodded. I realized Ranger had come up with the entire plan without consulting me, but since I liked the plan so far, I kept quiet.
"Next meeting via conference call at 1500 tomorrow." Ranger finished up. "Any questions?"
No one spoke up. I had a few questions, but they were questions I wanted to ask Ranger alone. Ranger dismissed everyone and a half hour after we'd left, we were back in his apartment.
"Wow." I said. The whole thing had been a little too fast for me. "Do you always get to business this quickly?" I asked.
Ranger grinned. "Planning is the easy part." He put an arm around my shoulders. "Let's see how well we execute."
When I didn't respond, Ranger put his index finger under my chin and lifted up my head so our eyes met. "Do you have any questions you didn't ask in the meeting?" He asked softly. Where to begin?
"What's a sitrep?"
Ranger threw his head back and laughed, I didn't know what was so funny. He recovered quickly and sent me a brilliant smile. "I'm sorry Babe, that just wasn't a question I thought you'd have. It's a situation report, a play-by-play of what's been going on since the last check-in." He explained. "Anything else?"
"How come you didn't include me in the planning? It felt like you had your mind made up and I didn't get to give any input." I was hoping I didn't sound pissed off, I really only wanted to know the reason. I liked Ranger's plan, I just wanted to be more part of it.
"You don't like it?" Ranger had led us over to the couch and we both sat down.
"No, I like it, I just wanted to…" I didn't know what I had wanted to, I couldn't express it right.
"I'm sorry," Ranger said, "It's what I do. I guess I'm not used to working with a partner. I promise I'll run things by you from now on." And he kissed my cheek. I felt a lot better. I knew how hard it must be for Ranger to share responsibilities, he was so used to just taking charge. I was glad I'd mentioned it, Ranger needed to know I was capable of being a part of the team, not just bait.
TBC