Thank you all so very much for your reviews, they mean a lot to me. I appreciate you took the time to read and review and I'm excited to learn what you think about this one!

Merci Vielmals to Stayce who just about took over for my muse for this one. Thanks Sugah!

Bon Jovi delivered the title, because they're as jersey as Steph

Disclaimer: Nope, still not owning anything, still not making any money

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 12

"Detective who?" I asked. Ranger's words didn't make any sense to me, although I felt they should. Ranger sat down next to me and took my hand. "Are you feeling alright, Babe?" He asked. I shook my head slightly to clear it. Very slowly, I remembered what happened before Teddy's call.

"Detective…oh Stayce?" Ranger nodded. "That one. Glad you remembered, Babe." The way he looked at me kind of belied his light tone, he seemed really concerned. I fell back onto my pillows with a sigh. "Sorry. It was just so…"

"I know." He said. "I heard. You did the right thing." He was still holding my hand and squeezed it lightly.

I snorted. "I'm not sure Teddy would agree." I closed my eyes and added softly "He scares me, Ranger." Ranger scooped me up and pulled me to his chest. I could hear his heart beat and it was a steady, strong sound. "He can't hurt you anymore, Steph." He said softly and stroked my hair.

"When this is over, I think you should go see a doctor." Ranger said after a while. I knew what kind of doctor he meant. "I don't know. You mean a shrink, right?" I could feel him nod slightly with his chin on my head and I sighed. "I'll think about it." I said honestly. Maybe I could get some Valium that made me jump less when the fucking phone rang.

"Babe, you didn't recognize me just now." Ranger pointed out. I sighed. I couldn't argue with that. I had felt like I couldn't trust my own eyes anymore. "It's been a hectic couple days…"

"True," Ranger admitted, "But your life is always stressful. I hate to see you like this"

"I'll think about it," I said again and looked up. "How come you're here? Did I miss something in the plan?"
Ranger chuckled. "No," He was stroking my hair, "You didn't answer your phone and you didn't make a sound." He looked at the wire with the transmitter and the microphone on the floor. "Now I know why."

I followed his gaze. "Oh. I just needed…" I think I was going to say "Some time alone" but Ranger cut me off. "It's okay. I wanted to see you anyway."

I sat up straight and took a tissue out of the Kleenex box to blow my nose. "I'm better now. The call was so unexpected in a way. I mean, we wanted him to call, I just wasn't ready, I guess."

I got up and straightened my shoulders. "I need a beer. Want one?" Ranger smiled. "Sure."

I picked up the wire on my way to the kitchen. Ranger followed me and leaned against the counter while I got the beer. When I opened the fridge door, my eyes fell on the bag of food my mom had given me and my stomach rumbled in response. "Have you had lunch?" I asked Ranger. He smiled and shook his head. "Don't think I don't know what you're doing, Babe." He said.

"What?" I said innocently. His smile widened. "Never mind." Now it was my turn to smile. We both knew I was distracting myself to avoid thinking about Teddy. I was glad Ranger let me.

I fixed Ranger's sandwich first, and then I doubled up the condiments for mine. We took our plates and our beers over to the dining room.

"So about Detective Krenzler," Ranger said when I picked up my sandwich. "Tank said she checked out," I said, "She seemed nice. She's not a cop?"

"She's with the Trenton PD," Ranger said, "And she is a detective. But she's not the primary on the case, she's not even assigned to it."

I put my sandwich down. "Then what is she? What was she doing here?" I couldn't come up with any possibility I liked. Had she worked with Joe? Were they friends? Were they…more?

My thoughts must have been displayed on my face because Ranger laughed. "It's not unusual, I just thought it was odd she didn't tell you," He said, "She's the department's grief counselor."

"A shrink?" I shrieked, almost choking on the bite in my mouth. "Sort of," Ranger said, "She's not assigned to the case, she's assigned to you specifically."

Huh. Now it made sense that she had asked me to call her about 'anything'. And I agreed, it was odd she hadn't told me. "Does she know Joe?" I asked. Ranger paused for a second before he answered and I realized I'd spoken about Joe in the present tense. "Still working on that part." He said.

I just nodded and continued eating while I was trying to decide if I wanted to talk to Stayce again.

"Can you stay?" I asked Ranger when we'd finished eating. I took a sip from my beer, and then another. "Do you want me to?" He asked. I nodded. I felt like Teddy had invaded my only remaining safe haven, my home. He had called me here before, but that was before I knew him, before I saw him. He was just another stalker at the time, I wasn't scared of him. I was scared now.

"Then I'll stay." Ranger said. He took his empty plate to the kitchen and put it in the sink. I did the same and then I followed him into the living room. Ranger picked up the remote and turned on the TV. He surfed around until he settled on CNN and leaned back. I sat down next to him and he immediately put his arm around my shoulders. I took a long pull from my beer and relaxed. I wasn't paying attention to the news though, my eyes kept flicking to the handset on the coffee table. Would Teddy call again? Would I be able to talk to him?

Ranger squeezed my shoulder. "Relax," he said, "I'm here." I was hoping that would be enough.

Ranger's cell phone buzzed and he pulled it off his utility belt and flipped it open.

"Talk." He said, then he listened. I tried to read his face for a reaction, but his expression was blank.

"Put a team on him. Leave the team at Eaton. Check in if there's an update." He said and listened again. I was watching him and could hardly keep still. "As expected." He finally said and flipped his phone shut. I couldn't wait any longer. "What?" I asked.

Ranger put his phone back on his belt and looked up. "Ashton left his house," He said, "Junior is following him. And some car keeps circling in the parking lot." I tried to jump up, but Ranger held me back. "Lester is checking it out. Stay away from the windows just to be safe." He said and pulled me back towards him. "I need another beer." I said and wiggled myself out of his embrace. I emptied my bottle with one long pull and walked into the kitchen. Since I didn't know if Ranger would want another, I grabbed two bottles and returned to the living room.

My phone rang before I reached the couch and I dropped the bottles. Beer sloshed out over the floor. Ranger jumped up and caught the bottles before they could empty themselves completely and put them on the coffee table. Then he picked up the handset and put his arm around my waist, sitting us both back down.

The phone rang again. "You ready?" He asked with a look at the caller ID. I took a deep breath. "Yes." I pressed out, although I wanted to scream "NO!!!"

Ranger put the receiver into my hand and tightened his grip around my waist. I concentrated on his touch when I pressed the talk button. "Hello?" My voice sounded a little shaky, but not too shrill. There was silence on the other end. "Someone there?" I asked.

"I know he's with you." Teddy said and my breath caught in my throat. "I know you don't want him there." Teddy continued. I grabbed Ranger's hand and held on tight while I was frantically searching my mind for something to say.

"You don't have to say anything, Angel." Teddy said. My hands started shaking and Ranger pulled me closer. "I'll take care of him." And then I heard a click and the line went dead. Ranger took the receiver out of my hand and put it back on the table.

I slowly released his hand and took deep breaths to calm down. "I'm okay." I said before he could ask. Ranger's cell phone buzzed again and he answered it. He flipped it close without saying a word. I looked at him expectantly. He shook his head slowly. "Tank traced the call, but it was a prepaid cell phone."

So much for being a step ahead, I thought. I was a lot calmer this time though, which is to say I didn't hyperventilate, and I didn't know if it was because of the beer in my blood or Ranger's presence.

"He said he'd take care of you." I said softly. When Ranger didn't say anything I looked up. He shrugged slightly. "We'll see about that. I'm prepared, Babe." What he left unsaid was 'Unlike Joe'. I swallowed hard.

I picked up my already half empty beer and I noticed the big beer stain on the carpet. I had forgotten all about that. I sighed and got up to get a towel. Anything to distract me right now.

When I had mopped up most of the spilled beer I sat back down next to Ranger. "You're okay." He said. It sounded more like a statement this time, and I nodded.

I picked up the remote and surfed around until I found a rerun of 'Jersey Girl' and left it on. Ranger raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. He took another sip from his beer and pulled me closer. "I love this movie." I said. "Can't imagine why." He said and I looked up to see him grin. Ranger was as good at this escapism as I was. I figured if I had an hour and a half of shallow entertainment, I may be ready to think about what to do about Teddy again. I smiled and emptied my beer.

When the credits ran Ranger turned off the TV. "Okay," He said, "Break's over. We need to talk."

Damn it. I should have known Ranger wouldn't let me go with denial for long. "I need another beer." I said. Ranger didn't stop me. Maybe he thought I'd drink myself into a stupor and be able to sleep. I know I was.

"Want one, too?" I looked at him with raised eyebrows and he did his version of a shrug. I knew two beers had no affect on Ranger; it just surprised me he was drinking at all.

I got the beers and when I got back to the living room, Ranger's phone was open on the coffee table and he had his notes on his lap. "Okay, Steph's here guys. Sitrep. Tank?"

I put Ranger's beer on the coffee table and took a sip from mine. "Perp initiated contact twice. We traced the calls, they were made from a prepaid cell phone. We couldn't pinpoint the location." Tank said. I figured he was in RangeMan's control room. "Junior?" Ranger asked. "Nothing to report. I am running errands with the suspect." Junior said. I could picture the black SUV with Junior in it following Ashton from the dry cleaner to the video store. "I'm staying on his tail."

"Include the locations in your written report." Ranger ordered. "Lester?"

"Beta team took over surveillance at 14:00. A blue Honda Accord, '02 model, was spotted in the target's parking lot. Plates didn't check out, but I lost him in traffic." Ranger frowned. "We haven't seen him back in the vicinity after 15:25." Lester said. No one had actually seen Teddy. He could have been in the Accord, or that could have been a random car.

"So far, half of the plan is working." I said when the meeting was over. Ranger looked at me with his eyebrow raised. "Teddy made contact. We just haven't seen him yet."

"We have a lot more than that." Ranger said. "We have him mad and aware of me. When we leave tomorrow, I am sure he'll follow. There is no way he could know where we're going, we will spot him if he's getting too close. We'll keep working on drawing his attention away from you. If we can get him to focus on me, we win."

"So…my plan is working?" I asked and couldn't hide a smile. Ranger smiled and chucked me under the chin. "Yeah," He said, "Your plan is working."

I raised my beer, saluting him, and took a long pull. Ranger still hadn't touched his beer. He was still watching me when I put the bottle down.

"Proud of you Babe." He said. I hadn't expected that. "You're doing great." He put his hand around my neck and pulled me close, then he planted a kiss on the top of my head. I was speechless, not used to Ranger expressing his feelings like that. I relaxed against him and rested my head on his chest. Maybe he was right, maybe I was doing great. He'd said it with so much confidence, that it was easy to believe.

"Do you think he'll call again?" I asked. The alcohol relaxed me a little, I could talk about it now.

"Probably. He wants you to know he's out there." Ranger said. Not exactly what I wanted to hear. I sighed and Ranger held me tighter. "I'm here Babe. My men are outside. You're safe." It felt good to hear him say it again.

I chewed on my lower lip and Ranger put his finger under my chin to make me look him in the eye. "If you think it's too much, just don't answer. We already have him where we want him for today."

I nodded. How did Ranger always know the right thing to say? By leaving it up to me, it felt like a lot less pressure.

I got up slowly, I needed to distract myself. I realized I was avoiding serious thoughts, but I didn't know what else to do to not break out in tears.

"It's dinner time," I announced, "Are you hungry?" I could feel the smile in Ranger's voice when he replied, even though I was on my way to the kitchen and my back was turned to him.

"You're cooking?" He asked.

"I didn't say anything about cooking." I said and turned around. "Actually, why don't we call for a pizza?"
I could hear Ranger laugh all the way to the kitchen where I got myself a bottle of water. I was amusing him again; we were getting closer to normal.

Pino's delivered a half hour later, but Ranger didn't let me open the door. We could smell the pizza as soon as it left the elevator, but still Ranger insisted on double checking. He returned moments later with the box and shook his head. "I have to do extra rounds at the gym if I spend too much time with you." He was looking at the pizza, so I assumed he was talking about the extra calories I was making him eat and drink and rolled my eyes. "I think you'll be fine with pizza and beer every now and then!" I said and took the box from him. Pizza was the ideal comfort food and I grabbed another beer from the fridge to go with it.

Ranger turned on the TV and switched to a basketball game and we ate in front of the TV in silence. I knew Ranger was just waiting for me to talk; he wasn't going to push me. But I was done talking; I didn't want to think about Teddy any more.

After dinner, I put my plate and empty bottle into the kitchen. Three, I counted. I'd had three beers. That would explain the slightly spinning apartment and the constant yawning. I pulled out a couple blankets from my closet and put them on the couch next to Ranger, then I told him I was going to bed and said goodnight. He looked like he was going to say something, but I turned quickly and hurried into my bedroom.

I changed into my PJ's and brushed my teeth. By the time I was ready for bed, I was thirsty. With a sigh, I turned around and padded into the kitchen for water. I walked into the living room to make sure Ranger was all set. He was sitting on the couch with his laptop on his knees and didn't look up when I entered. I didn't want to disturb him.

I was clearly buzzed, but unfortunately not tired enough to sleep. I stared up at the ceiling and listened into the night. It was early, not even nine, but I was too lazy to get up again. I tossed and turned, trying to get comfortable.

By 10:30, I gave up, tossed back the covers, stuffed my feet into some slippers and got up. I was going to watch TV. I shuffled into the bedroom where Ranger was still working on his laptop. He looked up and his lips quirked up into a smile. "Couldn't sleep?" He asked.

I rolled my eyes at Mr. Obvious. "How can you tell?" I asked sarcastically and switched the TV on. "At least it's not for lack of trying," Ranger said, shutting down his computer, "You look like you've been in bed for hours." And he winked.

I narrowed my eyes at him but didn't respond. I knew I should have checked my hair. And if my mom saw me sitting on the couch with just a tank top and shorts and without a robe on with Ranger next to me, she'd disown me. I was still silently challenging Ranger to comment further when the phone rang. I flinched and sucked in some air. The light mood was gone.

"It's up to you." Ranger said, indicating the phone. His face had turned expressionless again. I didn't know what I wanted. Would talking to Teddy give us any more clues? Get a grip, I told myself. Ranger is right here, Teddy isn't. He can't hurt you over the phone.

"Maybe it's not even him." I said slowly. Ranger picked up the handset and checked the readout. "Maybe. Unknown caller could be a phone solicitor." He agreed. I blew out some air. What were the chances this was a spam call? It was 10:30. We both knew it was Teddy. Ranger was still holding the receiver when it rang for the third time.

"Oh, what the hell!" I scoffed and grabbed the phone. "Hel-lo!" I said, for some reason a lot more chipper than I felt.

"Angel, you're making Daddy very angry." Instinctively, I reached for Ranger's hand and squeezed it. He put his free arm around my shoulder and pulled me close. "I…" I didn't know what to say. Teddy took a loud breath.

"Don't you know what happens when you make Daddy angry? Don't you know what happens when you disobey Daddy? Daddy will punish you." He said the last part with so much venom, I threw the handset to the floor and started shaking violently. Ranger picked up the receiver wordlessly and pressed it back into my hand. He pulled me close and made me lean into him, made me feel him.

"I'm sorry." I said softly. It was the only thing I could think of. Teddy didn't say anything, but I could hear him breathe. Ranger nodded, signaling me he liked my approach. He made a 'go on' motion with his hand and I gripped the receiver tighter. I just couldn't come up with anything to say, so I just repeated "Really, I'm sorry."

"I think he has poisoned your mind, Angel. Don't trust him. I will save you." I was squeezing Ranger's hand so hard, I was afraid I was going to break it. "You can…you can do that?" I asked, checking for Ranger's reaction. He was nodding again.

"I will rescue you." Teddy said and hung up.

Ranger took the phone from my hands and pulled me into a hug. I broke into tears and I was still shaking. If Teddy's goal was to scare me shitless, he had succeeded. I felt Ranger's cell phone vibrate and his hand dropped from my back for a minute while he silenced it.

"He can't hurt you. I'm here." Ranger whispered close to my ear and hugged me tighter. I wrapped my arms around him and buried my face in his chest.

I finally stopped shaking and was able to take deep breaths to calm down. I pulled back a little so I could look at Ranger. "He said he'll rescue me." I said softly. Ranger smiled. "I won't let that happen."

I nodded because I didn't know what to say. I wanted to believe Ranger, but Teddy had scared me. I was afraid if he ever saw me again, he would make good on his promise to punish me.

"Are you okay?" Ranger asked, lifting my head with his finger under my chin. "I'm getting there." I admitted. This latest call had definitely been the worst, and I hoped it was the last. "I'm here." Ranger said. I smiled and kissed him on the corner of his mouth. "Thank you." I said and put my head on his shoulder. Now I was tired, exhausted even, too lazy to even get up and go to bed. I told myself I was just going to rest in Ranger's arms for a minute.

I woke up when Ranger shifted next to me and when I opened my eyes, I was amazed to see it was morning. We were lying entangled on my couch. Well, I was lying on it, Ranger's legs were dangling over the edge. It must have been really uncomfortable for him.

"Good morning." Ranger said and smiled at me. My eyes widened. "Did I sleep on you the whole night?"

"Pretty much. First, you fell asleep sitting up." He said and his smile broadened. "Any bad dreams?"
I shook my head no. There never seemed to be any bad dreams when Ranger was with me.

"We still have some time before the meeting. How about some breakfast?" Ranger asked.

I got up slowly and pulled down my tank top which had crept up during the night. "I'll get coffee started and take a shower." I said. Ranger caught my wrist before I could turn around.

"I didn't mean for you to make breakfast, Babe. But you can take a shower before it's delivered." Oh. I did think it was a little unusual for Ranger to ask me to make him breakfast. Now it made sense.

I could smell bacon as soon as I left the bathroom and felt better immediately. I missed whoever had delivered breakfast, but now it was all spread out on the dining table. Bacon, eggs, pancakes, syrup, toast, butter, fruit, coffee and milk. Ranger was already sitting down, two grapefruit halves in front of him. I rolled my eyes at his choice and loaded up my plate with bacon, scrambled eggs and toast.

Ranger refilled our cups with coffee after he was done with his grapefruit and I'd helped myself to some pancakes. "Feel better?" He asked? I nodded with my mouth full. A breakfast like this would make me feel better even if I was in hell!

"Okay," Ranger said when we had cleared up the leftovers and dirty dishes and were nursing our third cup of coffee. "Are you ready for the meeting? I'm gonna conference the guys in and we'll see if anything happened over night."

"Wouldn't they have called if something happened?" I asked, suddenly feeling less comfortable. Ranger sent me a full-on smile. "Emergencies, yes. Every day things, no. We scheduled the first meeting for 8, remember?"

Right, I thought, the plan and Ranger's schedule for it. I wasn't used to a detailed itinerary, I guess. "Okay," I said, "I'm ready." Ranger looked at me for a long moment as if to make sure I'd been telling the truth, and then he pulled his phone off his belt and dialed.

Nobody had seen Teddy, and I was the only one who'd heard of him. Junior had followed Ashton back to the house and had managed to tab his phone. The first shift had taken over at 6 AM and had nothing to report. I was beginning to think the plan was a big waste of time and I told Ranger so.

"You're just not used to organizing it like this, Babe," he said, "You usually work alone, you don't need to synch your actions up with a team. Trust me, we're doing great."

Ranger had done this more often than I, so I believed him. But I still thought working alone was more effective. For the most part. Until I had to call for help because I couldn't do it alone.

Since Ranger was already at my house and we knew that Teddy was aware of that, we decided to leave for Point Pleasant earlier than planned. It was my suggestion, since I was getting antsy sitting on my hands and needed to get out. Ranger had agreed, but he looked like he was thinking of rolling his eyes. His cargo pants must be the male equivalent of a purse, because he was clean shaven when he came out of the bathroom and I was pretty sure he hadn't used my razor.

I made sure I forwarded my home number to my cell, Ranger made sure I was wearing the wire and the panic button properly. My cell phone and my stun gun were fully charged, my gun was loaded. I was ready to go.

Ranger took my duffle and I locked my apartment up behind us. "We're leaving my place" I said into my cleavage, as Ranger had asked me to do. One Merry Man had the task of documenting all activity, I was glad I didn't have to tell him when I went to the bathroom. I wasn't going to complain though, because when Teddy had kidnapped me, a wire and a panic button would have made all the difference. Now I felt a lot more prepared. Well, and the knowledge of Ranger and at least two Merry Men watching me made me feel a lot safer, too.

Ranger's car was parked next to mine, so we had to cross the parking lot to get to it. Ranger put his arm around my shoulder. I knew it was to anger Teddy, but Ranger was also shielding my body with his.

I blew out the air in one big whoosh when we were in his SUV. "So far, so good." I said. Ranger's cell phone hummed and he picked it up to give a report. We made stage one without incident. No one had seen Teddy around my apartment and yet he had known exactly when I was back in it and when Ranger came over. It was creepy.

"How does he do it?" I asked when we were buckled in and Ranger started the car. "Does what?" He asked. Apparently his ESP wasn't working this morning. "How does Teddy know you were at my house but no one has seen him?"

Ranger turned in his seat to face me. His expression was unreadable. He picked his phone back up and dialed a number.

"Double up our tail," He said, "We haven't seen him but he knows all about us. Make sure you have us covered." And he disconnected. "Good point." He said and I had to smile. Was that his way of admitting he'd overlooked something?

Either way, I thought we made a great team. I knew several RangeMan cars were following us, but I couldn't make out any of them. Ranger went into his zone and I had time to think. This wasn't good. I tried to come up with trivial thoughts, like if I'd remembered to pack my bathing suit, even though it was November and way too clod to swim…that was working for a while. Before I knew it, I was pondering the advantages of living in Florida versus living in New Jersey.

Ranger took Chambers to Broad and then got on Route 195 without saying a word. I played with the radio settings until I found Metallica and cranked it up. Ranger cut his eyes to me but didn't say anything.

"Getting ready for showtime." I yelled over the music and Ranger's lip quirked up in an almost-smile as he shook his head slightly.

Ranger's cell phone must have buzzed, because he turned off the radio suddenly and put his phone on speaker. "Talk." He said.

"Cal here. Ashton got a courier delivery about 30 minutes ago and just left his house. No phone calls were recorded. I am following him, it looks like he's headed for 195."

"Stay on him." Ranger said and disconnected. "Looks like we got company, Babe." He said and looked pleased.

Here was one major difference between me and Ranger: He heard someone was following us and was pleased. I heard it and was scared. I was glad Ranger's plan had called for us to be in the same car, I felt a lot safer that way. If Ashton was following us, Teddy wouldn't be far behind.

"Would they call us if they spotted Teddy?" I asked. Ranger nodded. "Immediately." And then he went back into his zone.

I got excited when we left the highway headed towards 'Shore Points'. I loved the shore in the summer, and in the fall it was still a nice change of scenery. I was looking forward to it. I just didn't know how convincingly I'd be able to play Ranger's girlfriend.

TBC

A/N: Please let me know what you think.