Small goof: this was supposed to be on the end of the last chapter:

I dragged a hairbrush ineffectually through my hair, gazing out the window, my mind whirling.

'Babe.' Ranger said from behind me, 'I smell burning.' He wrapped his arms around me, his chin resting on my shoulder. 'What's the matter?'

I took a deep breath, 'Are we…?' I asked.

'Yeah.' Ranger said simply.

I thought about it, 'Cool.'

'Yeah.' Ranger repeated, smiling. 'Now come on, it's picnic time.'

He took my hand, threading our fingers together like an intricate braid. Ranger led me out to the living room where he picked up a cooler and a blanket; the room was full of people; Rangeman and his family.

'Tank.' Ranger said, 'You're in charge of Rangeman Miami. Lester, security. Bobby, investigation. Questions?'

Everyone shook their heads.

'Good, Steph and I have the day off.' Ranger said firmly.

Then Ranger led me through the crowd, which parted like the Reed Sea before him.

There you go! Sorry about that. And here you go, an early xmas treat! Let me know what you think please! Nearly done, a few chapters left to go.

Chapter 13

Ranger's a master planner, even with only a few minutes to do so. Our picnic had everything from finger sandwiches to chicken drum sticks to chocolate cake. I didn't ask how he got all the food in such a short time frame – He's Batman, he can do these things.

'Babe.' Said Ranger, smiling, 'I'm not really a super hero.'

'Coulda fooled me.' I replied. I lay down onto the fleece blanket, stuffed like a turkey at Thanksgiving. Ranger stretched out next to me, draping an arm around my waist, and together we basked in the afternoon sun.

With the warmth of the sun throbbing down on me, it wasn't long before I dozed off.

I woke as Ranger's cell rang, loudly and shrilly.

'Sorry.' He grimaced.

'Yo.' Ranger answered his cell. He blew out a sigh of frustration, 'we'll be there in ten.' He hung up and turned to me, 'I'm sorry Babe, Trina got another note.'

I nodded easily, already packing up.

'That everything?' I asked Ranger.

He nodded, pulling me to him. 'This isn't what I planned.' He murmured to me.

'Even the best laid plans can go awry.' I consoled.

Ranger's lips twitched, 'especially when it comes to you, Babe.'

'Is that an insult?' I asked, trying to be indignant.

'Never.' He breathed, his lips grazing against mine. He drew back fractionally, searching my eyes, evidently satisfied with the answer; Ranger kissed me. His hot tongue seared my mouth, teasing and caressing me with molten desire. Our bodies pushed together and I arched my body into him, grinding my hips against him. He groaned into my mouth and I bit his lower lip lightly.

Reluctantly, we pulled back.

'Later.' Ranger whispered with promise.

I nodded; my voice had taken a road trip to Texas, along with my sense of decency – the things I wanted to do to this man…

We walked briskly back to the house, keying in the codes to the gate. Ranger took my hand firmly and we walked to the main room where everyone was gathered.

All eyes swung towards us, and I could see the measuring glances as Ranger's family noticed that we were holding hands.

Ranger raised an eyebrow in question, silently asking Tank where the latest note was. Tank nodded to the table, and Ranger tugged me forward with him to the table, and then he pulled back a chair. Ranger slid into the chair and I slipped easily onto his lap.

The table was covered in notes, at a glance I could tell they were all photocopies, except the new one, which was in a clear plastic envelope so it could be seen and touched without damaging it.

Ranger skim read the latest note, his jaw tightening fractionally.

'Photocopy it, get it checked for prints and analysed to make sure it's the same paper type as before.' Ranger instructed. Tank nodded and got to it.

All the notes were typed in Courier New, an impersonal scratchy font I've never liked, but it was common to all computers with Microsoft Word the world over. No clue there.

I gathered up the notes, they were numbered in the left hand corned to indicate the order in which they were received.

I started with one.

That's always the best place to start apparently.

No grass growing here.

You're so beautiful, so stunning. If I had you, I would have you until the grave.

An admirer.

It was creepy, and definitely not pleasant, but it wasn't especially threatening. You couldn't lock someone away for this one, and it was easy to see why Trina's agent wasn't overly alarmed at first. Still, something must have jarred with him or he wouldn't have kept the note.

I picked up the second.

No one else compares to you; you're all I want, all I need. I will have you.

An admirer.

Again, it was creepy, but not jail-worthy. No overt threats, just a whole lot of yick.

The third made me frown;

You will be mine, you will scream my name and you will beg for more.

A admirer.

This one was a little more sinister. Screaming and begging were good things in some situations…but I didn't get the impression that this was one of them.

Something else was niggling at the back of my mind, but I couldn't identify it.

I will hold you in your sleep and invade your dreams, until you see nothing but me, want nothing but me.

An admirer

Freaky, but less openly sinister than the last note. Something was still niggling, what was it?

I mentally shrugged and picked up the next note.

Ranger touched my arm lightly and I twisted slightly to meet his eyes. He made a slight motion with his head that has come to mean, 'hop off my lap a second, I need to get up to do something'…or something to that effect.

So I stood up off of Ranger and he got off the chair, gesturing for me to sit and continue.

Ranger returned a second later with a bottle of opened water, handing it to me. I hadn't even realised I was thirsty, but now, with the water in front of me, I was actually feeling pretty dehydrated.

I gulped down half the bottle and handed it back to Ranger, nodding my thanks. He nodded back, finishing the water. He tossed the bottle aside and came to stand behind my chair, his hands rested on my shoulders for a minute and then they started rubbing gently on my tense shoulders. I made a happy noise, letting him know I was grateful, and then I turned back to the notes.

I read through all the notes, all nine of them. By the end I was frowning and the niggle was niggling in a very annoying way. I wanted to yell at the niggle, either speak up or shut up, but it did neither and it continued to do it's thing, niggling away.

I was completely aware of the oppressive silence of the room, everyone was watching me, saying nothing. Very considerate of them to be quiet – except I'm a noise person, and all this quiet is doing my head in, I need talk, I need music, anything but this heavy silence that covers me like a cloak of ermine.

Ranger's hands squeezed my shoulders briefly and he slipped away into our room. He returned a moment later carrying something in his hand; it was a CD. He slipped it into the CD player and The Killers blared out of the speakers.

He knows me so well.

I flashed him a smile and made a 'turn it up' gesture. He increased the volume and I smiled happily.

©Coming out of my cage,

And I've been doing just fine.

Gotta, gotta be down because I want it all.

It started out with a kiss,

How did it end up like this?

It was only a kiss.It was only a kiss.

I let the music wash over me; probably damaging my ear drums, but hey, by the time I'm old enough to need a hearing aid I figure they'll have some medical revolution and an injection will solve my problem. Probably I'm being optimistic. Or unrealistic.

I prefer optimistic.

The music thrummed through the room and I relaxed. Now I can think.

I decided to follow my instincts, so I read through the notes again and then I placed them in either the left pile or the right pile with no reasoning or contemplation, just gut instinct.

I read through the left pile; I'd put notes 1, 2, 4, 7 in it. The right pile had notes 3, 5, 6, 8 and 9 in it.

Hmm.

I read through them again, comparing them and trying to work out why my subconscious had divided them like this.

And then,

Click!

I smiled triumphantly at Ranger.

A slow smile curved across his luscious lips, 'You worked something out.' He stated.

My smile widened and I nodded, 'Yup.' I said, but I didn't elaborate.

'You gonna tell me?' Ranger asked, his lips twitching slightly.

'Maybe. Will you buy me a donut?' I teased lightly.

'Boston Cream?'

'Deal.'

'Deal.' Ranger agreed, 'spill it Babe.'

Chapter 14

'Ok.' I said to Ranger, 'come here.'

Ranger stepped closer, looking at the notes over my shoulder.

'This pile,' I said, indicating the pile on my left, 'doesn't have any actual threats. It's all implied, by mentioning the grave etc. And mostly its just plain old creepy. However, the right pile has actual threats. But the notes don't go from not-quite-threatening to threatening in chronological order. What does that say to you?' I asked Ranger.

He thought about it, 'we're dealing with a psycho with split personalities?'

'I considered that. But look,' I pointed to the 'signature' on the right pile and the 'signature' on the left pile.

An admirer.

A admirer.

'So?' Ranger asked.

'It's the same on all the notes on each pile. You've got two psycho's; one who knows not to make direct threats and knows his grammar, and one that doesn't know not to make threats, or doesn't care about going to jail, and doesn't have such great grammar. I'm pretty sure that grammar ability doesn't alter between personalities, it's like singing – either they both can do it, or neither can.' I shrugged. 'Two guys.' I concluded.

'Shit.' Ranger said conversationally, 'Anything else?'

'They're obviously working together; there's a whole load of fonts to choose from and they both happen to choose the same one, with the same size, approx same message length, same paper, same writing position, and a virtually identical 'signature'? I don't think so.'

I shook my head, 'No, there are at least two of them, and they want you to think there's only one.'

'Fabulous.' Trina said sarcastically, 'I have two psycho's after me.' Her boyfriend, Jack, stepped closer, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, giving comfort.

'There's more.' Ranger stated, reading me at a glance.

'Yeah.' I agreed, sighing, 'I've had a fair amount of stalker/psycho experience, and this just doesn't fit.'

I turned to Trina, 'I don't think you have two psycho's after you.'

'What?' Trina said, confused. 'But you just said-'

'I said the letters were written by two separate people, who were working together. I'm just not sure that they're stalking you.'

Trina still looked confused so I explained further, 'When I have psycho's after me they all act a bit differently but there's always a common theme within their stalking. This guy Ramirez, he was all about respecting 'the champ' and women's inferiority to men. And this wacko Clyde was all about 'The Game' and the prey and the hunt and the fear. Abruzzi dressed his men up as Rabbits and Bears and President Clinton and Nixon, and he was gonzo over medals and battles…'

I took a deep breath, pushing away Slayer memories, 'The point is they all have veins of something running through their stalker-actions - a theme. These notes don't. There's no flowers, no pictures, no common message. Nothing. It's like these people are playing at being stalkers, but don't know the finer points of what's expected of them, and so they're just fumbling through. In which case, they're not really stalking you; they just want you to think they're stalking you.'

'Why?' Trina asked, perplexed.

I shrugged, 'I don't know. But if I had to guess…I'd say they were after another one of the Manosos and they needed to draw them to Miami. Everyone's protective of younger siblings, especially younger sisters; of course they would come to your rescue. But that raises the question of who are they really after?'

'This isn't good.' Ranger said, rubbing a hand across his face, 'At least if Trina's the target then we know who we have to defend. But if we don't know who the target is…' He shook his head in frustration.

Ranger got out his cell and dialled, 'Yo. I want to know anything you have on two people with a grudge against any of the Manosos or their extended family. Probably they've only just come into town.' He listened for a second then disconnected. Then he started dialling again.

Andy had his cell out and was doing the same, calling around, calling in favors.

The room was still as everyone called in favors left, right, and centre; trying to find information.

I just hoped I was right.

It was definitely not a good situation to be wrong in.

Ranger read the thought on my face, 'don't worry, we'll keep guards on Trina in case you're wrong.'

I nodded, reassured. 'And the rest of you?'

'Rangeman Miami will help secure the location, and none of us will leave the house without two guards.'

'Including you?'

'I don't need guards Babe.'

I got up off the chair and turned to him, my hands resting on my hips, my eyes narrowed.

Ranger met my eyes for a second, then he nodded, 'I'll have guards too.'

'And you will keep them on you at all times when you're leaving the premises?'

He sighed, 'Babe.'

'You promise not to try and lose them?'

He hesitated.

'Ranger.' I said in level voice.

He sighed again, 'Yeah Babe, I promise.'

'Thank you.'

Ranger closed the distance between us, wrapping his arms around me. 'I'd do anything for you Babe,' he whispered softly, 'swallowing a little bit of macho pride so you can feel better is a fairly small thing to ask for.'

I smiled up at him, 'anything?'

'Anything.' Ranger confirmed.

'Cool. How bout that Boston Cream?'

Ranger burst out laughing, 'Only you.'

When he'd recovered Ranger handed some money to Tank, 'get Steph her trans-fat filled donut.'

'You could buy me two donuts, if you wanted to big guy.' I said to Tank.

Ranger shook his head in resignation.

Tank grinned at me, 'Sure thing, Steph.'

I smiled at gratefully at Tank, then I stepped back into Ranger's arms. They tightened around me, holding me close. I nuzzled into his neck, breathing in the exclusive scent of Ranger. Yum.

Ranger's arms and his warmth comforted me; the truth is I'm a little bit scared; there was still the slight possibility the psycho's were after Ranger – and just the thought of losing him filled me with a terror that far surpassed anything the Slayers had induced into me. My heart was clenching painfully and my chest felt tight.

'It's ok.' Ranger murmured to me, his hands stroking my back, easing the tension from my body.

I nodded, 'I know.' I replied.

But I think we both knew we were lying.