let me know what you think! – Heather x

Sleepless in Trenton

Chapter 7

After dinner at my parent's, Ranger and I drove back to our apartment and settled on the couch, listening to Norah Jones's first album and talking about our day. I was sitting next to Ranger, with my legs resting over his legs, and his hand was holding my hand - his thumb running light circles over my palm.

'Did you get into trouble over the meeting?' I asked.

'No, an advantage of being the boss…but the guy I was meeting was a bit pissed.' Ranger shrugged slightly, 'he got over it.' He smiled, 'But the boys gave me some stick later.'

'Aww, poor Baby, what did they say?'

A smile tugged at Ranger's lips, 'they called my whipped, Babe.'

I tried to squash my smile, 'what did you say?'

'I glared and told them to shut up or I'd put them on the midnight stakeout shift everyday for the next month.' Ranger grinned suddenly, 'They were much nicer after that.'

'Do they know?' I asked curiously.

'Know what?'

'That I've been having nightmares and stuff.'

Ranger paused. 'When I was in Boston I asked them to keep an eye on you. They noticed you were looking tired, and as the days progressed and you started looking exhausted, they debated whether to call me or not. Eventually the decided not to call me, because I would only be away for a few more days, and instead they assigned someone to watch over you in case a skip tried anything when you were tired. I haven't told them about the nightmares, but they probably guessed.'

'Oh.' I said, 'wait! I didn't see anyone.'

Ranger smiled fractionally, 'you're not supposed to, Babe.'

I sighed, 'I always get made when I'm on stakeout.'

Ranger smiled, 'want me to give you a crash course?'

'Yeah, that'd be cool.'

'Ok, well first of all you need the right car for the right area.'

'Like the American car for my dad?'

Ranger grinned, 'Yeah. So, if you're in a wealthy area of town you need a Beemer or a Merc. If you're in the suburbs you need a VW or a mom van. If you're in Stark street, you need a POS car with vandalism all over it and bent fenders.'

'Makes sense.' I agreed.

'Whichever car you have, if you have time, then you want to leave the car parked there a few times with no one in it. Park it in slightly different positions across the street, but on the other side of the road to the one your skips on. That way people get used to seeing it without really knowing that they're getting used to it. Then when you're doing surveillance in the car, no one will think anything of it, and you won't get made. It probably helps if you don't have a plus size black woman in aluminous spandex with you.'

'Actually, she wears biker leathers on stake out.'

'Good to know.' Ranger said, smiling.

The locks on the front door started tumbling open and Ranger and I both stood and drew our guns.

It was Morelli.

I was torn between relief it wasn't a skip, and anxiety that it was Morelli.

He had his hands up.

I wondered why, and then I realised we were still pointing our guns at him. I put my gun down and Ranger followed suit, clicking the safety on. Ranger sat back down, and I automatically sat on his lap. Ranger's arms encircled my waist possessively.

Joe didn't say anything, he just sat down on the armchair, looking at us.

'What's he doing here?' Joe asked me, ignoring Ranger.

I glanced at Ranger, silently telling him to respond. 'I live here.' Ranger said, face blank, giving away nothing; except to me: I could still tell he was tense, and not happy to see Joe. I guess Ranger didn't know I'd chosen him.

'You what?' Joe asked softly.

'I live here.' Ranger repeated, meeting Joe's gaze head on.

'You screwing her?'

'Nice Joe, real nice.' I said sarcastically.

He ignored me, waiting for Ranger's response.

'That's between Stephanie and myself.' Ranger said.

Joe looked between us, from one to the other, noting our automatically entwined bodies.

'Are we done?' Joe finally asked me.

'As a couple? Yes. As friends? I hope not.'

Joe's jaw clenched, and then he nodded. 'I heard you had nightmares. They getting better?'

I turned to Ranger, 'I thought I was doing really well, I thought I was being sneaky and no one knew I had nightmares! But everyone knew!'

'Hard to keep your exhaustion a secret Babe, and you were dead on your feet.'

'True.' I said; still feeling a little deflated that everyone knew.

Ranger's lips twitched, 'Don't worry about it Babe, you're an excellent liar.'

'But you alwaysknow when I lie!'

'Yeah.' Ranger shrugged, 'But I'm Batman.'

'I didn't know Batman was especially good at detecting lies…'

'It's a little known fact.' Ranger asserted, straight faced.

I couldn't help it; I burst into giggles.

Ranger smiled, 'feel better?'

'Yeah,' I smiled back, 'thanks.' Then I gave him a kiss on the lips.

'Sure.'

Joe was staring at Ranger like he had an extra head. 'Did you make a joke?' He asked incredulously.

'It's a little known fact that Ranger has a sense of humour.' I said, straight faced.

'Wiseass.' Ranger muttered.

Joe was staring at both of us. 'Shit.' He said.

'What?' I asked.

'Are you always like this when you're together?'

'Like what?' I asked.

'So…' Joe shrugged, and then sighed. 'You fit.' He said reluctantly.

I didn't know what to say to that, out of all the things I expected him to say, that hadn't even made the list; shouting, ranting, raving; sure - this weird kind of acceptance; never.

Joe followed the thought across my face, 'I love you Cupcake. Always will.' Rangers arms tightened around me, 'But I don't think we have the 'forever' type of love. I want you to be happy. If that means you shacking up with Rambo…who apparently has a sense of humour, then I'll accept it.'

I stared at him, shocked.

'I met this woman in DC.' Said Joe, smiling suddenly. 'I like her. I've been offered a post in DC, I came back here to see if we could salvage things between us, and then if not, well…I like DC.'

'If that's where you want to go, then I'm happy for you Joe. And I'm rooting for you with the girl.'

Joe grinned, 'her name's Sarah, she's a primary school teacher.'

'Is she a bottle blonde?' I asked.

Joe blinked in surprise, 'No. She's a brunette.'

'Good.' I said firmly, 'glad to see you haven't lost your excellent taste in women.'

Joe grinned at me. 'Definitely not. I think you'd like her – someone tried to mug her and she hit them over the head with a spade.'

I laughed, 'a spade? I'll have to remember that.'

'Oh god.' Joe said to Ranger, 'I'm giving her ideas.'

Ranger grinned, 'I'll keep her away from spades.'

'Good deal.' Said Joe, nodding.

'Hey!' I protested.

'All joking aside, how are the nightmares?'

'Not good.' I said softly, not meeting Joe's eyes.

'She had another one last night.' Ranger said.

'You talked to someone about them?' Morelli asked

'No.' I said firmly.

'I think you should consider it. If they haven't gone away in a month by themselves, then they're probably not just going to disappear.'

'Ranger?' I asked, 'what do you think?'

'When I joined the army I saw the counsellor about the gang bloodbath.'

I nodded, knowing he was referring to the street war between the Fights and the Hounds when he was younger. 'Did you have nightmares?' I asked.

Ranger nodded slowly.

'About Falry?' I asked.

He nodded again.

'You couldn't have ended it any other way. Dog wouldn't listen, and you had to protect your gang and Crys and Danielle.'

Joe looked incredibly curious, but he kept his questions to himself.

Ranger sighed, 'I know. But at the time it was no consolation.'

'Did it help? Talking to the counsellor about it?'

'Yeah Babe, it helped.'

'So you think I should see a shrink too?'

'Not a shrink. A counsellor. I think Joe's right, this hasn't gone away by itself Babe, and last night was a bad one, you were trembling for an hour afterwards.'

I sighed. 'Fine, if you both think I should talk to someone, then I will.'

Ranger smiled, 'Good.'

'Good.' Said Joe. 'Can I talk to you privately?' Joe asked Ranger.

Ranger nodded and gently lifted me off him so he could get up. Ranger turned to me, 'no eavesdropping, Babe.'

I opened my eyes wide, 'would I?' I asked, eyelashes fluttering.

'Definitely.' Ranger smiled.

The men disappeared into the hallway and I sat on the couch, sitting on my feet, trying to resist the urge to dash to the door and listen. They came back in nearly ten minutes later.

'No black eyes.' I noted.

'Kidney jab.' Ranger said, blandly.

I narrowed my eyes at him and his lips twitched, letting me know he was teasing me. I rolled my eyes.

Joe grinned. 'Good luck,' he said to Ranger. 'Night Steph. I'll see you before I leave for DC, and then I'll let you know my address and everything.'

I nodded, 'thanks Joe. Take care, ok?'

He nodded and left.

I turned to Ranger, 'so?' I asked.

'So?'

'So what was all that about?'

Ranger said smiling slightly, 'macho crap. Don't worry about it.'

I sighed, he wasn't going to tell me.

Ranger clicked off the main lights in the living room and turned on the lamp, then he went to the CD player and skipped some songs until it reached the one he wanted, and then he turned up the volume. The strains of Norah Jones's 'I've got to see you again' filled the darkened room.

Ranger offered his hand to me, 'Will you dance with me Stephanie?' He asked me in a strangely formal manner.

'I'd love to.' I replied, taking his hand.

He drew me up into his arms, holding me closely. We swayed gently to the music, my head resting on his shoulder.

It wasn't quite dancing by candlelight, but it was close.