Thank you all so very much for your reviews. I appreciate you all taking the time to give me your feedback.

The title is borrowed from Bon Jovi, they remind me of Jersey

A big DANKESCHOEN to Stayce, for the inspiration, the edit, the encouragement…for being there!!

Disclaimer: The story is mine, the characters aren't, and unlike JE, I'm not making any money off of them

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 14

Luckily, Ranger had asked Ella to pack food for a few days, he hadn't done it himself. Ella had known we were going away together and had packed everything I needed. She had put together the basics for breakfasts, lunches and dinners. And then for Ranger, there was tasteless, healthy cereal and wholegrain something. For me, there were TastyKakes, the trans-fatty goodness of peanut butter, worthless white bread and hot chocolate.

I nuked some milk and spooned in the powder while Ranger was checking the written report Lester had emailed him.

When I had put the mugs on the kitchen table, I took off the pin and removed the earpiece. I figured it would be enough if Ranger was wired. It was too weird to hear Ranger in stereo sound.

I grabbed a cookie off the plate on the table and blew on my hot chocolate. Okay, so I had made cocoa to distract me, but I really was cold from our walk and I loved cookies and cocoa.

"Babe," Ranger said. I opened my eyes; I must have closed them at some point and looked at him. "Hmm?"
"I understand you really like those cookies but you may wanna keep it down while the men can hear you." He pointed at his collar where he was still wearing the microphone. I felt my face blush bright red. I guess I must have had one of my food ecstasies. "Ooops?" I said while I covered my mouth to hide my smile. He was right though, I really liked the cookies.

When I'd finished my cookie and Ranger hadn't joined me, I picked up the mugs and carried them over to the love seat where he was still working on his laptop.

I looked at him, holding the two steaming mugs, until he became aware of my staring. "I made one for you," I said, handing him one of the mugs, "You must be cold."

Ranger closed his laptop, picked the microphone off his collar and said "Going offline, report movements over the phone." into it before he switched it off and put it on the coffee table.

He eyed the cocoa suspiciously but finally took it and had a sip.

"This stuff is gonna kill you." He said and I rolled my eyes. Ranger definitely didn't know how to enjoy himself in the food department.

He stretched his legs and leaned back, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"You okay?" I asked and put my mug on the table. Ranger couldn't have gotten much sleep the night before, he was probably dead-tired.

"I'm fine," He said, "Just trying to figure out Gardner's next step. I raised my eyebrows. I must have just discovered Ranger's thinking position. He smiled up at and crooked his finger at me in the universal 'come here' motion.

I took his cocoa from him and leaned back. Ranger put his arm around my shoulders and sighed.

"I'd say we done good for our first day as a team." He said. I wasn't so sure about that, our first outing had me pretty freaked. But Ranger was used to smooth missions, if he wasn't worried; maybe it was going better than I thought.

"You really think so?" I asked. He nodded. "I think we got them right where we want them."

"What happens now?"

"Now we wait." Ranger said. Oh joy. Waiting without a TV or anything to read. This was going to be a long day. We had our heads on the back of the couch, I was staring at the ceiling, and Ranger's eyes were closed. "For what?"

"Huh?"
"What are we waiting for?" I asked. Ranger opened his eyes and smiled. "Ashton followed us here. He was standing on the street watching the house until a few minutes ago. Probably gave Gardner the play by play of our walk. As mad as you had him yesterday, this just has to get him here."

"You think he's gonna call?" I was reaching for my cell phone in my bag. "No, he's gonna want to surprise you." Ranger said. I got up anyway. Sitting around without doing anything didn't work for me. I finished my hot chocolate and rinsed out the mug, then I grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge and turned to face Ranger.

"Are we really just gonna sit here and do nothing?" I asked. Ranger still hadn't moved. He opened one eye and his upper lipped quirked into an almost-smile. "I didn't say anything about sitting or not doing anything, Babe." I rolled my eyes at him and his almost-smile became a full-on smile when he closed his eyes again.

He hadn't answered my question and we both knew it. I was about to repeat it when my cell phone rang. Immediately, Ranger straightened up and took the phone out of my bag, checking the read-out. His face hardened and he pressed a button to turn it off. "Hey!" I protested, "Who was that?"

Ranger pocketed my phone but didn't answer. "Ranger?" I tried again.

"A sick joke," He said softly and his tone made it clear that the topic was closed.

I crossed the room to stand directly in front of him. "Who was it? Was it Teddy? I thought I was supposed to talk to him."

He was still wearing his blank face and his look was clearly telling me to let it go, but I refused to give up. "Who was on the phone?" I asked again.

Ranger sighed and cupped my face in his hand. "He took Morelli's cell phone after he shot him." He finally said.

I felt like someone had punched me in the stomach and I sat down hard on the floor right where I'd been standing. Ranger picked me up and led me over to the couch. "I'm sorry," He said, "He left a message for you that day, that's how I knew."

I nodded, but I felt numb. The good news was, I wasn't bawling. Small steps, right? Was that the second message Ranger had mentioned during the first meeting?

Ranger handed me his mug with the now lukewarm cocoa and I took it. I was so glad I hadn't been closer to my phone when it rang. Probably I would have passed out when I saw Joe's number on the caller ID.

"I need to…" I said and sat up straight. I didn't quite know what I needed to do, but suddenly, I had to move. I picked up my purse as I stood.

"You can't leave…" Ranger said slowly, "We have to stay here."

"I know." I almost whispered and fished my iPod out of my bag. "I just need to be alone for a while." I left the main room and walked into the small bedroom, closing the door behind me. I lowered the blinds so that the room was even darker than before and settled down on the bed, turning on the iPod. I set it to shuffle, cranked up the volume as high as it would go and lay back.

An hour later, I was almost deaf and felt much better. I hadn't cried. I had the visual of Joe's cell phone number on the display of my phone, and I still didn't cry. It was a big step for me.

Again, Ranger had given me my privacy. He didn't come after me to ask if I was okay, he was just giving me my space. I had no idea how he always knew exactly what I needed, it wasn't like I was telling him, he just knew.

My scalp was itching and I realized I hadn't cleaned up after the little wrestling match in the sand earlier. I got up, grabbed my stuff and went to take a shower.

After a half hour I felt like a new person. Well, sort of. I was all clean and lotioned, the cuts and bruises on my body were slowly healing, and again I thought that reflected my emotions perfectly.

I realized I would always miss Joe, probably for the rest of my life, but at the same time, I couldn't feel all sorry for myself and break down every time I thought about him or was otherwise reminded of him.

From now on, I decided, I would try to be stronger. I might still have that pity fest with Mare, beer and Ben & Jerry, but until then, I would try to keep it together. And not because anyone wanted me to. Ranger never gave me the idea he thought I should get over it. No, this was because I wanted to move on.

I blow dried my hair and pulled it into a loose ponytail, then I applied some mascara and lip gloss to feel decent again. A glance in the mirror confirmed I looked better already, my eyes weren't puffy anymore and my skin tone looked natural again. Okay, so I was starting from the outside in, but it was still a start, right?

"Okay," I said when I joined Ranger on the couch, "What's the plan, what is our next step? Any update on Ashton? Did Teddy show?"

Ranger closed the laptop he'd been working on and sent me a 1000-watt smile. "Welcome back." He said and winked. I jokingly punched him in the arm and he pretended it hurt.

"No sign of Teddy yet, but we have confirmed Ashton is talking to him. The bug in his hotel room is working well. We only get one side of the conversations, but he's told Gardner everything he saw earlier, including where we're staying." Ranger said.

"So we're still staying in?" I asked. After my little pep talk, I was ready to go out and do…something. Anything. Waiting doing nothing was killing me.

Ranger nodded. "For now." I sighed and Ranger smiled again. "You're not bored, are you?"

I snorted. "Bored is not a word for how I'm feeling. I want this over with. I want Teddy behind bars or…"

Ranger's eyebrow quirked up, "Or what, Steph?"

I bit my lower lip. Should I tell him that I had visions of Teddy's slow, painful death? Maybe he'd have me committed, or at the very least he'd want me off the team. I grabbed my purse and pretended to search for something, but when I looked up a few minutes later, Ranger's eyes were still on me, waiting for an answer.

I sighed. "I want him to suffer for what he's done. And I want him gone before he has a chance to hurt you." I finally said. There, it was out.

"Are you angry at him?" Ranger asked. Duh. Actually, anger didn't cover it, I was furious. But I settled for a "Yes."

"Good," Ranger said, "I need you to channel that anger into energy. When or if you face him again, I need you ready to act. Do you think you can do that?"

I thought about that for a moment. Of course Ranger had a point. I usually just froze when I heard Teddy's voice. Probably the same would happen if I saw him again. "I hope so." I admitted.

Ranger was watching me closely, I'm sure he didn't miss a single emotion in my eyes. He put his arm around my shoulder and gave a brief hug. "Good." He simply said again and released me.

"Here's what we know," He continued and picked up his laptop, "Neither Ashton nor Gardner have a gun registered in their name. But since we know Ashton is armed, we can assume the same for Gardner." He clicked on a few icons and brought up his email. "Ashton met Gardner at the hospital, at least there is no record of them knowing each other before that. They were described as loose friends by their coworkers. But now," He opened some surveillance photos of Ashton that were taken during our walk, "He seems to be doing his legwork."

The first picture showed Ashton on the phone while staring at something off camera. He was wearing a red down jacket and a Phillies baseball hat and standing between a boarded up salt-water taffy place and a souvenir store.

Ranger closed the laptop. "Your mom called." He said and the look I gave him must have reflected the utter confusion I was feeling because he barked a short laugh. "Sorry, I still have your cell phone, remember? Your mom called, you have five missed calls by now. You may want to call her back before she worries."

I rolled my eyes. Ranger never used to change the subject like that, when had he picked up my specialties?

"She already worries. Last time I talked to her…it wasn't nice. Not something I'm up for today." I groaned inwardly when I remembered the last time I saw Mom.

Wait, maybe Ranger bringing up my mom wasn't such a change of subject after all! "Do you think she heard?" I asked, my voice suddenly shrill. Ranger did his version of a shrug; his shoulders moved a quarter of an inch. "Thought maybe you could listen to the messages and find out." And he handed me the cell phone.

"Do you have a feeling or did one of the guys see someone else watching us?" I asked warily. If someone I knew had seen us and alerted the Burg, I would never be able to show my face in Trenton again. Grandma Bella would give me the eye and my mother would cut me off from pineapple upside-down cake forever. And I didn't know which was worse. Even if I told my family the truth, the rumor would never die, and for the rest of my life, I'd be the one who disrespected Morelli by hooking up with Ranger right away.

"No. But it can't hurt to make sure," He said, "Before you spin that worst-case scenario any further in your head. I can see the fear in your eyes, Babe." And he chuckled. He was right again. Before I knew what my mom had said, I had accepted that she knew I was here with Ranger. I shook my head to clear it and dialed my voicemail.

I switched the phone off and leaned back with a sigh. "She's inviting me to dinner. There's no way she knows." Mom had left two messages, then she had called three more times without leaving a message. If I didn't show up for dinner on Sunday, I was probably toast. But I really had more important things to think about at the moment.

My phone rang again at that moment. I really wasn't ready to talk to my mom, so I was about to ignore the call and let it go to voicemail when I saw the readout. 'Unknown' it said. Not 'Mom' or even 'Lula', Unknown. I swallowed. The only people who had this number were the ones in my phonebook. And Teddy.

Ranger saw the look on my face and flipped his own cell phone open. "Go ahead." He said and took my free hand. I took a deep breath and pressed the button.

"Hello?" That had sounded almost normal.

"You've gone too far, Angel." Teddy said. His voice was so cold, it made me shiver involuntarily. I held on to Ranger's hand and tried to stay true to my resolution, Teddy would not freak me out again.

But what was the right direction to take? Should I act scared and intimidated? Okay, that one wasn't really a stretch. Or should I act cool and snarky? I looked at Ranger but he was on the phone, probably alerting the Merry Men. I was on my own on this one.

"What did I do?" I asked. Seemed neutral enough, not too intimidated, not too fresh. Teddy snorted. Maybe he had expected another apology.

"You know damn well what you did. Making a spectacle out of yourself and the mercenary! Didn't I tell you? Didn't I tell you??" He was almost yelling now. Ranger flipped his phone shut and locked eyes with me. He nodded his approval. I just didn't know if I could continue like this.

"You told me…" I started but he cut me off. "I told you I'd punish you for your bad behavior! After I take care of the bastard, I will show you exactly what that means. Daddy is very angry now!" And he hung up.

I sat motionless, the phone still at my ear, and stared straight ahead.

"He's got your phone manners. And you said he wouldn't call." I finally said emotionless. I had no idea where that came from; it was the first thing on my mind.

Ranger took my phone out of my hand and flipped it shut, ignoring my comment. "Lester is trying to track the call." I just nodded. "You okay?" he asked. Another nod from me. And I really was okay. I was just a little…I guess shell-shocked would describe it. And surprised I had kept my cool. I swallowed. "Really, I'm okay. But you're not."

Ranger raised an eyebrow. I had to admit, I wasn't making much sense. I let go of Ranger's hand and got up. "He said he'd take care of you first. So we have to focus on protecting you first, not me."

Now Ranger had both eyebrows raised and the ghost of a smile was playing around his lips. "You think you need to protect me?"

"Yes. I think we need to protect you. I'm second on the list. So it just makes sense that you'll be bait now." I said.

Ranger smiled and pulled me back onto the couch. "I think we continue as planned. As soon as we learn…" His cell phone interrupted us. It was a short call. Ranger put his phone back on his belt. "The call originated about ten miles from here." He said.

"Where is he?" I screamed. Ranger put his arm around me before I could jump up again. "We don't know. We just know a perimeter. I was gonna say as soon as we learn more about his location, we plan ahead. Now we know."

Okay, I had to admit, Ranger was better as the one in charge. I had made it through the phone call, but as soon as I heard how close Teddy was, I was about to freak again. Ranger just saw his plan was working. He picked up his microphone and said "Meeting in five."

"We have men in the next room to Ashton and we have a team on the street in front of the motel. If Ashton leaves to meet Gardner, we follow." He said, all calm.

Although I knew the answer, I had to ask. "You're not scared?" Ranger grunted a laugh and pulled me closer. "No, I'm not scared. I'm angry. I'm angry at Gardner for making you feel scared."

Now I felt tears stinging, but not out of fear or sadness. Ranger had just gotten more proof that he was on a killer's hit list, yet he was only thinking about my feelings. That's why I got choked up and I leaned my head against his shoulder. "This is how you do angry?" I tried to lighten the mood with a joke.

Ranger ran his fingers through my hair and laughed silently. "You should see me mad." He said and kissed my nose. Although I knew he was kidding, I really didn't want to see him mad, at least not mad at me, ever.

"I'm glad you're on my side then." I said. My tone was still light and funny, but I was hoping he got the message that I really meant it. Ranger tucked a lock of my hair behind my ear and smiled. "Always," He said softly and our eyes held for what seemed like a long time.

Our meeting was another conference call and everyone reported in. The second shift had taken over, so Lester and Woody were now on 'target detail' outside. I felt bad because everyone was doing overtime for this job. Ranger only wanted his best men on it, and I was sure he was paying them extra. Again, I was costing him money. Trenton PD had not declared Teddy an official suspect yet, so there was no reward for his capture. He was just wanted for questioning after an anonymous caller had placed him at the scene of the crime. That call may even have originated from the Haywood Street office of RangeMan.

Everyone on the call was made aware that Teddy was within ten miles of us and everything was to be reported. The control room was still trying to pinpoint Teddy's location from the perimeter they got when he called me. He was still talking to Ashton on a regular basis, so they were hoping they could close in on where he was. But no one had seen him.

"Now what?" I asked Ranger after the meeting was over. This waiting for action to find us was definitely not working for me. I knew Teddy was out there, and I knew he was still gung ho on getting me. He was willing to kill Ranger to achieve his goal, and I was not going to let that happen.

Ranger tousled my hair and got up. "Let's eat." He said. "Huh?" I said rather eloquently.

"You must be hungry." Ranger explained. Well, I was back to always being hungry, so that one wasn't a big guess. "Are you volunteering to cook?" I asked. I was hoping he'd say no and we'd go out to eat. "I can cook, actually," He said, "But I was thinking more about having something delivered."

"We'll go out later," He added when he saw the disappointment in my face, "But we won't have time to eat then. We're gonna try to get Gardner here." I nodded at that and followed Ranger out of the main room into the bedroom.

"Did I miss something? Do we have a plan? You said since we know where he is, we have our next move." I said, my voice maybe a little too sarcastic.

Ranger turned so suddenly, I almost bumped into him. His blank face was in place and I really didn't know if I'd been pushing him too far.

"Are you saying you'd rather try on your own again?" He asked, and his voice was eerily calm. Ouch. Probably I deserved that. "No," I said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it that way." And I looked down at my shoes.

Ranger blew out some air and tipped my head up with his finger under my chin. "Don't apologize. I get that you're frustrated. These things take time."

His eyes were soft again, but I still felt like an idiot. "Maybe I can cook something for us?" When at a loss for words, I always bring up food. I can't help it if food is my fix-it-all.

Ranger smiled and chucked me under the chin. "Go ahead," He said and nodded towards the bathroom, "I'm just gonna take a shower. Surprise me."

I swallowed hard when for a second, I thought he had meant to surprise him in the bathroom. Then I realized I'd never actually cooked for Ranger and that's what he had meant. Mental head slap. So I just nodded and walked back into the kitchen.

I didn't just surprise Ranger, I surprised myself. Okay, so I didn't whip up a proper Burg meal like my mom, but I managed to cook the rice just right and didn't burn it, and the chicken breast wasn't dry either. I'd added peas out of a can, and the feast was complete. Well, maybe not a feast, but dinner all the same, and Ranger ate it and told me it tasted great. I'm sure he was being nice when he said 'great', but I ate it, too, and it wasn't bad at all.

Ranger volunteered to do the dishes, but the sight of Ranger playing housewife was just one I could do without, so I shooed him into the living room and rinsed the dishes myself.

I was just going to start coffee when Ranger's cell phone chirped. He put it on speakerphone and placed it on the coffee table.

"Control room here. Boss, Lester and Woody missed their last check-in." Junior said. I looked at Ranger. I saw the ghost of some emotion, then his blank face slipped into place. All teams were supposed to check in with the control room every half hour. "When was the last contact?" Ranger asked.

"15:45 as scheduled." Junior reported. "Get Bobby on it." Ranger ordered and flipped his phone shut. The muscle on his jaw tightened, other than that, he showed no emotion. I realized I was still standing in the kitchen with the coffee pot in my hand. Since I really didn't need anything to make me more nervous at the moment, I put it on the counter and sat down next to Ranger.

"Does this mean trouble?" I asked cautiously. "Not necessarily. Bobby will check it out." Ranger said.

Bobby was still in the guesthouse, monitoring the carriage house from his vantage point on the second floor. I couldn't remember if Bobby was part of a two-man team, too. If he was alone and left his post, we'd be unmonitored for the time he was away, and I didn't like that thought.

The other team was still in the room next to Ashton's, so they were too far away to check on the team on Arnold. I bit my lip and wrung my hands nervously. The Merry Men were all ex-military; they wouldn't miss a checkpoint to go for ice cream. If they didn't report in, something must have happened.

I could tell Ranger was tensed, but he tried not to show it. If I hadn't known him so well, I would have missed it. He picked up his earpiece and attached the microphone to his collar. Since I didn't want to miss anything, I did the same, just as Ranger was telling everyone he was back online.

"Target surveillance here." Bobby said. "Are you at the car?" Ranger asked. "Yeah…Shit!" Bobby yelled. "Get an ambulance here, STAT!"

"Report!" Ranger barked and I jumped at his loud voice. My pulse sped up while I was trying to make out what Bobby was saying.

"We got two men down at target surveillance," Bobby said. A moment later Junior confirmed he had called the EMT's and that they were en route, "ETA five minutes." He finished up.

"Suspect team, split up!" Ranger barked, "I need a man on target duty while I assess."

While he…wait, was he going to leave me alone? "We're gonna check it out." I said and Ranger shot me a look. "They're right outside and Bobby is there," I reasoned, "Leave the team on Ashton."

Actually, I'd much rather stay inside where I felt somewhat safe, but I didn't want Ranger to go out by himself and leave me here with another Merry Man.

Ranger's eyes narrowed slightly and I thought I heard some of the men suck in some air. Probably, they didn't usually ignore Ranger's orders. I held Ranger's look so that he knew I wasn't going to change my mind.

"Boss?" Tank spoke up. There weren't any cameras in the carriage house, so he couldn't see the war of stares that was going on.

"Suspect team, stay put. Target will assess." Ranger said and got up, pulling me with him.

"Lester's hit." Bobby reported. We rushed out of the house so fast, Ranger had to hold me back when he took the second to lock up behind us.

I could tell he was in full combat mode now, his eyes were constantly checking our surroundings. I only prayed that Lester was going to be okay.

We almost ran down the gravel path and past the Cayenne. I could already hear sirens in the distance and remembered that Ranger had ordered emergency vehicles on stand-by. Although at the time, I'd thought he did it to be ready for the big takedown.

The black RangeMan Explorer was parked in a driveway across the street overlooking the entrance to the hotel. It was to look like the homeowner's car. It was already getting dark, but even before we crossed the street, I could see some of the damage.

The driver's side window was smashed, glass littered the ground around the door. Bobby had the passenger door open and was pulling someone out, but I couldn't see who it was because the car was blocking my view.

Junior was constantly giving us the position of the ambulance over our earpieces and Cal was demanding an update from Bobby.

"Two men down," Ranger said when we were standing right in front of the Explorer. He took a quick look around and ushered me behind the hedge that bordered the small front yard of the vacation house. "Stay here." He said, and one look into his eyes told me he didn't expect to have to say it again. My heart was pounding so loudly in my chest, I could hardly make out any other sound.

Ranger got to the driver's side and yanked the door open. "Santos! Can you hear me?" He yelled. "Back-up team is ready to move." Junior said into my earpiece. "Move out!" Ranger ordered.

Bobby got Woody free of the car and put him down on the concrete driveway. I still couldn't see Woody, but Bobby took his windbreaker off and bunched it together before he knelt down.

"Multiple GSW's, Santos is unconscious." Ranger said and I didn't know how he could keep his voice so calm. I knew he was just as stressed as I was.

The sirens got closer and I could see their strobe lights in the twilight.

"Woody, what happened?" Bobby yelled. Good, he was talking to him, Woody must be conscious, I thought. Both Woody and Lester were wearing microphones like the rest of the team, but I hadn't heard any sound from them yet.

"Are they okay?" I screamed. I needed to know, but I didn't dare leave the cover of the hedge. I didn't want Ranger to have to worry about my safety while he was trying to get Lester out of the SUV.

The ambulance took the corner onto Arnold and rushed towards us. Both Bobby and Ranger were barking orders and giving reports, but I couldn't understand what they were saying. I sank down on the grass and prayed.

TBC

A/N: I didn't get a single review that said they wanted Ranger and Steph to 'move along' and that wouldn't have felt right to me either. Let me know if the tempo is right for you. Do you see getting Steph getting over Joe enough to 'see' Ranger?