Family Ties

Chapter 5

We checked in, and decided to unpack and change before dinner. It was early, but I was already exhausted. I took a quick shower, changed, and was ready when Ranger knocked on the door.

"Ready?"

I just nodded, and we headed downstairs to the SUV. Ranger was quiet. Well, Ranger was almost always quiet, but this felt different. He felt...distant.

We pulled into the restaurant, and just sat there a minute. Finally, I couldn't stand it anymore. "Ranger?" He turned to look at me, expression blank. "You okay?" No response.

He seemed to snap out of whatever zone he was in, and we found a table in the restaurant. Ranger was studying me, and I was getting a bit uncomfortable.

"What?" I hoped I didn't sound as exasperated as I felt.

"Why?"

I just looked at him. "What are you talking about? Why what?"

"Something you said when we got to the hotel. You've always trusted me. Why?"

"Is there any reason I shouldn't?"

"Answer the question."

"Ranger, you've always been there when I needed you. You've always helped me. Why wouldn't I trust you?"

"That explains why you trust me now. You have from the start. Why?"

"I don't have a good answer for you, Ranger. I just knew that I could. I did, and I wasn't disappointed."

"Never?"

"Well, you did give me some bad advice once."

The waiter came to take our order, saving me from discussing this further. Ranger dropped the subject, and we just made small talk during our dinner. I didn't eat much. Ranger lifted an eyebrow at me when I pushed my plate away, but didn't comment.

"No dessert?" He looked surprised.

I shook my head. "I'm too tired for dessert."

"I guess we should get back then."

We were almost at the hotel when Ranger broke the silence. "You doing okay, Babe?"

I looked at him, startled. "Yeah, why?"

"I'm worried about you. Bad dreams, skipping dessert, not eating much. You've lost quite a bit of weight."

I smiled a little. "Thanks, but I'm okay. The dreams are...troublesome, but they aren't as frequent as they were, so hopefully I'm through the worst of it. I'm eating fine, mostly, today was an aberration. I just didn't have an appetite after seeing those pictures."

"Sorry about that. I should have warned you. I've been a little distracted lately."

"It's okay, Ranger."

"That doesn't explain the weight loss though."

I started to laugh, while he looked at me, obviously confused. "Sorry," I told him after I got myself under control. "It's just ironic." He was still looking at me, waiting for me to explain. "I've been running."

He lifted an eyebrow, with the ghost of a smile on his lips. "Stephanie Plum, getting up early to run? Can't picture it. What made you decide to do that?"

My laughter dried up, and I swallowed, hard. Of course Ranger noticed. "Babe? I didn't mean to upset you." I nodded. "Talk to me."

"Right after the slayers mess, the nightmares were...pretty horrific. I could never seem to tell when they were coming. After a while, just the anticipation of a nightmare was keeping me awake most nights. I was afraid to sleep. So I started to run in the evenings. If I was tired enough, I didn't worry so much about what might happen when I closed my eyes."

"God Babe, I'm sorry."

It was my turn to look at him, puzzled. "For what?"

"For not being around more. I didn't know you were having trouble."

I gave him a sad smile. "I'm not your responsibility, Ranger. You can't rescue me from myself."

He started to answer, but my phone was ringing the theme from 'Cops'. I smiled as I answered. "Hey Joe, you got my message?"

"Hey yourself Cupcake, and yeah, I did. Everything okay?"

"Fine. You're out late again, seeing miss 'I hate your dangerous job tonight'?" I said on a laugh.

He chuckled. "For the last time, I think."

"That's too bad. I was really enjoying the poetic justice of it all."

"You would. Not that I blame you."

"That's okay, I hear you asked out that nurse at St. Francis, Kelly, was that her name?"

"How did you know about that?" He sounded frustrated.

"Please Joe, you asked her out in the middle of a busy ER. I had six messages on my machine within the hour, and probably twice that by the next morning."

"Shit. Sorry about that."

"No problem."

"Listen, I just called to check up on you. Did you manage to get back to sleep last night?"

"Yeah, I did, thanks."

"You working with Manoso?"

I tensed a little. "Yeah, and?"

"Nothing. Be careful."

"I will. And thanks for checking up on me."

"Anytime, Cupcake. Call me when you get back home."

"Will do."

We were in the parking garage of the hotel. Ranger had been listening. Well, not that he had a choice when I was sitting right next to him. Before I knew it, he was opening my door.

He had his hand on the small of my back as he guided me to the hotel. "Babe?" I turned to look at him. "What's going on with you and Morelli?"

I smiled. "Wow. You have been out of touch. Joe and I broke up a couple of days after the slayers."

His jaw tightened. "So he just left you to deal with everything alone?"

We were almost to our rooms, and I stopped and pulled away from him. "No, actually, he didn't. Even after we decided it was over, he wanted me to stay in his guest room so he could keep an eye on me. I couldn't do it. It would have been too weird. He still checks on me damn near every day. You know what? I'm tired of trying to defend each of you to the other. Frankly, I'm just plain tired. Goodnight."

I wouldn't say I stomped to my room, but it was a close thing. I managed not to slam my door. I took another shower, letting the hot water ease some of the tension in my neck and shoulders. I was just toweling off when there was a knock on the door that connected my room to Ranger's.

I threw a robe on, and sighed as I opened the door. "What do you want, Ranger. I'm tired."

"I'm sorry Babe. It's really none of my business. I just feel guilty for not being there for you. When I thought he hadn't been there either..."

"Well, he was there. And you're right, it isn't your business. And contrary to popular belief, Ranger, a woman doesn't need a man to get through tough times. I have my family, my friends, and my work. It's enough. "

"Is it?"

I sighed. "It's had to be."

He reached out and brushed my hair back from my face. "Please don't be angry with me Babe. I was just worried about you."

Damn. Ranger was hard to resist under normal circumstances. I wasn't sure what to make of a sweet and concerned Ranger.

I gave him a small smile. "Focus your energy where it belongs, on finding Brennan and Lydia."

He smiled back at me. "Done. You gonna be able to sleep?"

"I think so."

He leaned forward, barely brushing my lips with his. "Wake me if you need to go running, okay? We don't know anything about this neighborhood."

I smiled, now this was the Ranger I knew. "I will. Thanks."

"Sleep tight."

I shut the door between us, and crawled into bed. Despite my exhaustion, it was a long time before I fell asleep.