The Standard Disclaimers all apply.

No harm has come to any of the Merry Men in the creation of this story; Steph, on the other hand, has had some issues.

Thanks to Jaime for all of her hard work editing and brainstorming. This couldn't have been written without you! Besos!!

Crap. He was serious about me going on that camping trip.

Stephanie's Gamble

By Alfonsina

Chapter 9 Bobby Part 2 of 2

The next several days, Bobby and I went over really basic and not overly gross first aid stuff that would be presented at the Babysitting thing. Since it looked like I was going to go as teacher's assistant so I should have a basic idea of what was going on.

In theory and practice did OK with compression stuff and finding things in the first aid kits, I didn't want to find out about real life. I cleaned up a couple of really minor wounds, I even remembered to use the rubber gloves. I was not so hot on splints and I was all thumbs with the ACE bandages. This was why Bobby gave me extra time before the class started, so I would have a clue what was going on and so I didn't embarrass him in front of 'his kids'.

Bobby wound up having a lot of stuff to do that I couldn't help him with, so I spent more time in my cube than I had in a couple of months, not such a bad thing.

Hector had approached Ranger about continuing his English with me during the week. Ranger considered it a business asset for Hector to speak better English, so that was accommodated as well.

In addition, Ranger scheduled a specific time for me to go to the range every day and my 'coach du jour' changed depending on who had time. When it was Tank, he kept pulling out the damned penny for his drill. I did it a couple of nights on my own, but he knew I wasn't feeling the love for the penny thing.

After I did the requisite 50 trigger pulls in front of Tank, he would take a fresh target out and put one of those stickers on it. He put the target close enough I could clearly see the yellow dot. He would put the penny back on the end of the barrel and told me to pretend it was just like what I had done before. I didn't ever seem to hit the dot but I was a lot closer. I had no idea what happened to all those pennies, but that was OK with Tank.

Tank just beamed at me, so proud of the student who was willing to put up with his ideas. Ultimately it meant more coaching time with Tank than any of the other guys. Oh well, it was for my higher good after all. We did the whole teacher student thing well together in the past, this was just a different subject.

A couple more sessions with Bobby on first aid and before I knew it, we had the next meeting at the Y.

That Wednesday night, Bobby, Hector and the boys still wore their uniforms but the class wasn't limited to just the scouts. There were plenty of girls about the same age as the scouts, but no uniforms. Bobby led the session and Hector and I did the assistant thing. The first night was feeding, washing and diapering the baby doll. Hector and Bobby were pros; guess they'd had a lot of practice. Me? I was just glad I never dropped the doll in front of the kids.

When the meeting was over, I helped with the clean up and noticed all of the women who came up to Bobby and Hector thanking them for their time and the information for their kids. Seemed like an easy way for Bobby to meet single women with kids and there were lots of them. He was looking like he had been put in a candy store with freedom to sample as much candy as he wanted. I saw him give his number to at least three different moms. Maybe he wasn't 'paying it forward' as he was using scouting to meet women. Something to think about.

Hector didn't look like he want to be approached by any of the lingerers, so he kept pulling me in close, playing with the belt loops on my pants or putting his arm around me doing the territory thing again. His body language made it look like we were together even though we weren't; we couldn't be. He was using me to avoid talking to other people but this whole thing was just getting weird. Evidently it got Hector what he wanted. None of the women directly approached Hector and the couple of men who had been making eyes at me were quickly dissuaded from the thought.

The evening got kind of late with Bobby and the groupies, so Hector took me back to the office. I decided to crash on four, it had been a long day.

Another week, more time getting first aid and child safety stuff from Bobby and more time on the range. Lunch with Bobby was the amazing. He knew all the best dumpy diners in the Trenton area and he liked to frequent them. It was good for me, but potentially bad for my waistline. I snuck into the Rangeman gym a couple of times after particularly succulent and highly caloric lunches, I tried to do it when I thought Ranger was out of the office, didn't want him to think this would become a habit.

The next troop meeting was still at the Y and we did pretty much like before, but the kids didn't work with the dolls. It was a lot about being aware of their surroundings, making sure they knew where their charges were and having phone numbers in case of emergency. Guess it would have been a good program for me to have taken as a pre-teen, I might have spent more of my adult life aware of my surroundings. Then again, maybe not.

Ranger showed up after the meeting had ended; he noticed Bobby with his groupies and Hector hanging all over me. If I hadn't known better I'd have thought Ranger had been bitten by the green eyed monster. This was just Hector and Hector wasn't interested in me so much as his own privacy.

The two men had a short and heated exchange in Spanish. All I could get out of it was "ella" (she/her) and "mia" (mine) coming from both of the men. What was up with that? This wasn't looking good and I didn't have a lot of patience for the games or macho posturing.

"Ranger, Canelo, is there something I can help you boys with?" I asked sweetly.

"No problems here, Babe. We were just discussing how tonight went. I wanted to know if you wanted to have a night cap now that the meeting is over. He," Ranger said, indicating Hector, "thinks he's taking you home and you might have plans with him."

"I hadn't really thought about it. I mean I hitched a ride with Bobby and Canelo met us here. I hadn't really thought about who my ride was going to be. Therefore, I didn't know I'd need any plans other than my previously scheduled, quality alone time. I know neither of you would like to interrupt my lofty plans now would you?" I asked.

This was getting confusing, Ranger had been playing the 'just be friends' card for quite some time. We did the odd dinner together, but there hadn't been a lot more than that going on for a while. Hector was gay but he was getting all territorial and possessive on me for no apparent reason.

"If you two can't play nice I'm going to cramp Bobby's style and have him take me home then I can spend the rest of my evening with my four favorite men," I said.

"Babe, who are these four men?" Ranger said, again with the serious and jealous tone in his voice.

"Neither of you have probably ever met them. I have had an intimate relationship with these four men my whole life," I said drawing this out of effect. Sometimes I really did enjoy baiting Ranger and Hector was turning out to be just as much fun to bait.

Both Ranger and Hector gave me looks that could have frozen a lesser woman in her tracks. What the hell? They asked for it. They deserved it.

"Since you both think you need to know, they are, in order of importance: Ben & Jerry, Mr. Bubbles and Vidal Sassoon. It is Wednesday and it is my traditional beauty night. Since I don't recall issuing invitations, neither of you were or are invited to beauty night," I said sweetly.

"What happens on beauty night?" Hector asked. It seemed this was a new concept to him.

"First you start with a long, hot bubble bath. While you're in the bath you do the whole multi-tasking thing. You wash and condition your hair, then shave whatever needs doing with a new razor, and, of course, the all important face mask. After the bath, then it is time for the manicure/pedicure. You end the evening with a small bowl of your favorite Ben & Jerry's ice cream. Stuff has a way of coming up at the end of the week, so I designated Wednesday as beauty night."

Hector asked Ranger a question. Ranger answered it doing something with his hands, but looked like he had been sucking on a sour lemon after he got done giving his answer.

"I wouldn't mind a manicure or a pedicure," Hector said.

"We might be able to do that some time. Let me know and we can set it up," I said to him.

"Babe."

"What Ranger, you can come too. It's not so much a 'girlie thing' as it used to be, the metrosexuals all do it. You too macho to get your nails buffed, Batman?"

"Babe."

Both men looked at me and each other like they didn't know what to say next, so I stepped into the unknown and looked at the other man in our midst said simply, "Bobby, can you give me a lift back to the office? I've got some stuff to do tonight."

"Sure thing Steph," he said as he gave his number to the last of the groupies.

Bobby and I left Hector and Ranger in mid-macho posture. I kissed Hector on the cheek when I said "good night" and he looked like the cat that swallowed the canary. Then I kissed Ranger on the cheek, his expression said, "about damned time" and it appeared that he was somewhat relieved that he wasn't slighted. I turned on my heel and took Bobby's arm and headed for the SUV.

It was a quiet ride back to the office with Bobby. I was confused about what was going on with the two men. Bobby had been oblivious to the situation between Ranger and Hector and was basking in the glow of getting another six phone numbers.

"Bobby, you know how everyone thinks that Lester is a player?"

"Yeah. He collects women like some kids collect postage stamps. What of it?" he asked.

"From what I've seen at the Red Cross meetings, looks like you, guy, are the pot calling the kettle black. I mean, I've observed Lester in a club picking up women and he hasn't gotten half of the phone numbers I've just seen you get these last two weeks," I said.

"Steph, these women are just grateful that I'm doing a service to the community. Sometimes they want me to do stuff for their civic or church groups. But hey, if I meet someone nice, I'm not gonna look the gift horse in the mouth, ya know?"

I thought about it and just smiled, 'Player' I thought to myself.

As we pulled into the parking garage he said, "Besides, don't hate the player. Hate the game."

Jeez. Men.

It has been a stressful evening and I was looking forward to a well deserved soak. It had been a long work day, followed by a long meeting and a lot of confusion with Hector and Ranger; not to mention the fact that my legs were so hairy that the feel of them was making me nuts.

The next day, after the usual searches. I met with Bobby to go over what I would need to know for the Boy Scout meeting that was coming up.

"Are you serious about this packing list, Bobby? It's huge! How many bags do I get to take with me anyway?"

"One duffle and one backpack, that's it and it's actually more than the guys get to take, they get buddied up and each is responsible for only some of the items."

Huh?

"Lots of stuff in scouting is about working as a team. The teams consist of two people. There isn't always a need for everybody to bring everything. Our troop is a little different because Ranger provides everything up front that the kids need. Their equipment is actually checked out to them at the beginning of the year and they are supposed to treat it like it is their own. It cuts down on how much stuff Rangeman has to store and it makes the kids accountable for the equipment.

"When we get to camp, the guys will be divided into their teams and then chores are assigned to the teams. You, Hector, the volunteer dads and I will be 'adult supervision' but will have to help out with the tasks. After camp is set up, we will help the kids work on their merit badges, again breaking into groups to do it."

"How many volunteer dads are there going to be, and are any of them single?" I asked with a giggle. Hey, a girl's got to keep her options open.

"Three volunteer dads and I think they are all married, sorry Steph," he said.

"That's OK, I guess I won't have to worry about anyone hitting on me while we are in the wilds of New Jersey or Pennsylvania or wherever we're going."

"Actually, who said you don't have to worry about that? I might hit on you. I am single and not a dad," Bobby said with a smile.

"I don't think I'm your type Bobby. Ultimately I am not 'wilderness girl' or 'roughing-it-girl', you know. If this weekend is your idea of fun I can do it once, maybe twice, but not on a regular basis and definitely not for more than a couple of days," I said.

"I don't know. You might just fall in love with being under the stars. You might have the wits scared out of you and need for me to protect you in the middle of the night from the hooting owls," he said with a smirk on his face.

"Noises in the dark, it takes more than noises in the dark to scare me," I said.

"Steph, you know what the noises are like in your neighborhood. You know the sounds of traffic, people talking on the streets, sirens. You don't know the sounds of the wind in the trees, bird calls, or animals walking through the brush. If you don't know those sounds, they can be unnerving especially since you won't have more than a flashlight to use to identify the sounds."

Fudge. He was right. Probably I wasn't going to sleep a wink. Probably I was going to wind up in a tent of eleven year old boys who are just as unnerved as I was going to be. Probably I was going to wind up in Bobby's tent in a panic in the middle of the night and he'd tell the whole office. Probably I should buy my mother a case of spray starch to use when she starts the ironing as a result of this trip.

"What am I going to sleep in? On. I mean 'on'. On. What am I going to sleep on at this camping thing anyway?" I asked feeling more than a little flustered.

"Well, we have extra foam pads that go under the sleeping bags to be act like insulation from the cold. You'll get the standard issue sleeping bag and the pillow is up to you to bring."

"Will I have a tent of my own? I mean, are you sure there won't be any mom's on this thing?" I asked, hoping I wasn't going to be the sole source of estrogen on this trip. "I figure that you have like two to a tent and the adults go in with the kids."

"In some of the tents it's just kids and as the kids get older, the adults don't stay in the tents with them. But you can always bunk in with me, Steph," Bobby said with a huge smile, "and we can zip our sleeping bags together for warmth. I'm not afraid of the dark or things that go bump in the night. Besides you had no problem sleeping on my bed when you were looking at the manual."

I'd kind of forgotten about that. Bobby was a walking hormone, and it seemed like he was trying to give Lester a run for his money.

"Bobby, you know nothing happened with Lester, Tank and me. I didn't say anything to Ranger about falling asleep on top of your bed and I wasn't planning on it. So far no one has gotten sent to a third world country, and I'd like to keep it that way."

"Yeah, glad you haven't said anything to Ranger about that. You know when he found out that you slept with Lester and Tank, Ranger was in a mood for several days. He believed you and he trusts you, but he was tough for the rest of us to be around."

He'd just been himself around me, so this was news. Great. Just great.

"Well, getting back to the subject of tents. Put me in with the kid who has the most experience camping and who isn't afraid of the dark, I guess, unless one of the dads turns out to be in the closet."

The next meeting of the Boy Scouts was in their regular location. The baby sitting instruction was over, this meeting stuff was starting to feel routine. The pledge, the oath, a song and then down to business. Bobby collected permission slips from the kids who remembered to bring them and reminded them that if they didn't have a signed slip before that Saturday, they'd be left behind.

The guys talked about the merit badges they were going to be working on, cooking and fire mastery and archery. Great, all of it was stuff I had no experience with. Bobby, Hector and I hung around until all the kids were picked up and headed back to the office together; we had actually come in one vehicle so it just made sense.

Hector took me aside before we left and asked if I was still going to do my beauty night tradition tonight. I told him that I was and asked why. He wanted to know if I would seriously do a manicure for him tonight.

"Sure Canelo, why don't you plan to come to my apartment on four at about 9:00 and we'll do it then," I told him.

I did the bath, shampoo/condition, face mask and shaving routine and got out of the tub slightly before 9:00. I had just put on my jammies, fuzzy blue robe and slippers when Hector knocked on the door.

Hector was smiling like a 16 year old on a date. He'd evidently showered, shaved and changed into some new jeans that actually looked like they fit his body and a crisp white shirt. He smelled yummy.

After the whole hug and kiss thing at the door, I escorted him to the kitchen table. I had already set it up with the towels, soaking liquid, the files, clippers and the buffing blocks. It all looked very professional.

"Canelo, you look great and I feel under dressed. Do you mind if I stay in my pjs? After we are done, I'm going to go to bed."

His voice was a little strangled as he said, "Sure, no problem."

I had some quiet music playing on the stereo, a nondescript classical something, and had him stick both of his hands in the soaking liquid to soften up his nails to make them easier to trim.

I was just getting ready to start to work on his first hand when there was another knock on the door. I excused myself and answered it. Odd, I wasn't expecting anyone. I never get visitors when I stay here because everyone knows my door gets heavily monitored.

Crap.

It was Ranger.

Ranger also looked all cleaned up and had only one place to go. Mine. He was at my door looking darkly dangerous with a bottle of wine and two glasses.

I answered the door to him and he immediately invaded my body space and kissed me deeply. "I like the outfit, Babe. Did you choose it just for me?" he asked with a wolfish smile.

"Ranger. I wasn't expecting you tonight."

"Problem with that Babe?" he asked as he was walking me backwards into my apartment.

"Well actually, yeah. I am doing a manicure on Canelo tonight. I looked at his cuticles and boy are they ever rough," I said. I was afraid I was going to start babbling at any minute. I was feeling uncomfortable and it was getting worse. Then noticed the reason for the increased discomfort, Hector stood up behind me and had just placed his arms around my waist.

Wednesday night was no longer the relaxing beauty night I had once designated it, nope. Wednesday had become bullshit, macho, male posturing night. I had evidently been elected referee of said posturing night. Swell.

"Ranger, you are most welcome to stay if you'd like me to work on your nails. I'll massage your hands and arms, part of the service," I said trying to smile.

God, this was both awkward and embarrassing. Ranger was starting to make a move, finally and Hector was there to intercept the pass. Great. Just lovely. I wonder how big the packing crate was going to be to send Hector off to his own third world country.

"Babe, since it seems that you are occupied tonight, why don't we just do it another time. How are you for a week from Friday just to make sure you've got enough notice?" he asked.

"Sure that Friday'd be good. We have to make it an early night. Bobby is making everybody meet at the ungodly hour of 7:00 at the parking garage for the camping thing," I said crossing my fingers that I wasn't being mentally measured for my own packing crate.

"No problem, we'll make an early evening of it. Do you mind if I leave the glasses and wine here for now? It'll give me a reason to make sure to bring you back early, or an excuse to come by before next week is over," he said. His face looked relaxed but his voice was getting a little tight.

He handed me the wine and glasses and started to walk to the door. He said, "See me out, Babe."

I did and he kissed the daylights out of me in front of company. I didn't think Ranger was much for PDAs but this was a doozie.

Hector carefully asked me, "Are you dating Ranger?"

I looked at him and said, "Honestly, I don't think so. We have gone out a few times and kissed some, but he isn't looking for a relationship right now."

"Good," was all Hector had to say as he went back to the table and put his hands back in the bowl.

I made short work of the filing and clipping. The cuticles were awful, but trimmed up nicely. I wore out a buffing block on each hand; the man had been in dire need of having the ridges smoothed out. He just closed his eyes and breathed deeply when I massaged his hands and forearms. Despite how slender Hector was, he had quite a bit of tense muscle in those hands.

Due to the earlier interruption, it was about 10:30 when I kicked Hector out. Pretty early by my standards, but I knew Ranger would definitely have someone monitoring my door and I didn't want to make Ranger any crankier than normal. In fact, I told that to Hector and we did the "good bye" hug and kiss thing inside my door so as not to give a show for the cameras. But this wasn't the normal hug and kiss, he missed my cheek and placed the softest, most lush kiss on my lips and then held me for several long, comforting seconds. When finally he pulled away, all I could think was how I could get used to being held by this man. I did a mental eye-roll, ah … not on the market, at least not on my market.

The next day, I made a point of seeking out Ranger's help with my supplies and packing. I was a big girl and could do it on my own, but the way Ranger was behaving I thought it was in my best interest to seek him out. I had a list from Bobby, but felt that it was completely overblown. Ranger and I went to my "regular" apartment and started to go through my stuff.

"Babe, don't you have any rain gear? A good umbrella? A decent flashlight?" he asked.

"Nope. I sort of figure that I'm wash and wear, a little rain never hurt me. Besides I don't get all that wet and usually I keep extra clothes in the car. As to the flashlight, I threw the last one at Morelli in the fight to end all fights and I think it broke. Anyway, Morelli didn't give it back to me afterwards, he mumbled something about possession being nine-tenths of the law."

"Babe, I don't believe I am asking you this, but do you want to go shopping with me?" he asked in a pained voice.

"Shopping, sure. You really think Macy's is going to have what I need?"

"Babe, there are other places to shop than Macy's. And before you ask, I promise it isn't the gun store," he said with a smile. "I can't take you tonight, but we'll do it over the weekend, OK?"

Turns out there was a camping/outdoor sports store not too far from my apartment. Who knew? It was kind of like a Macy's for outdoor stuff. It had bunches of tents, backpacks, boat stuff, and shoes. God did they ever have shoes, they were ugly but they were shoes.

This particular shopping trip with Ranger wasn't so much fun. He was a man on a mission and that mission was "Stephanie Preparedness". He found me big, bulky rain gear, a huge umbrella, a Swiss Army knife doodad, a huge backpack (he told me the one Bobby could lend me wouldn't hold all my make up, smart ass) and finally a pair of shoes and four pairs of very thick socks. Well technically they were hiking boots but footwear is footwear and one of my favorite things.

When we went to the check out, I reached for my wallet. He stopped me and said, "Babe, can't let you pay for this stuff. This is part of scouting and has its own line item on the budget."

I just smiled, holding the shoebox, they were ugly but they were way comfy. We went back to my apartment and did an overview of what Ranger thought I was going to need, what Bobby and the group would provide and how I was going to get it all put into the backpack and my duffle bag.

There was no way, no way humanly possible that I was going to get all of that into the backpack and the duffle. No way, no how, nuh-uh. As I stood staring at the pile of clothes, sweaters, plastic bags and 'survival' stuff on my bed I couldn't get my head around it. Ranger just looked and smiled that quiet saintly smile.

"I can make it all fit. I'm good at getting big things into tight spaces," he said.

"Ranger, are you and Bobby taking lessons from Lester? That come-on line just sounded cheesy," I laughed.

"It's not cheesy if it's true. If you let me, I'll prove it to you. I can take my time and prove it to you all night, over and over and over again," he said while he grabbed me around the waist. Before I could make some kind of comeback, any kind of response at all, even a noise, he had my body turned toward his and he molded us together. Then he kissed me. It was kind of like the one on New Year's Eve where I couldn't remember my name after it was all over.

When he released me, he said, "Babe, I know you aren't really wanting to camp and you're just fulfilling your bet from New Year's Eve. But if you really wanted to, I could get you out of Bobby's little adventure. You could camp with me this weekend. I can get you almost anything your heart desires. Plus you would have the extra benefit of me keeping you safe from the things that go bump in the night. I can even tell you what the strange sounds around you mean and where they're coming from. Think about it." He kissed me deeply again. When he left, I found myself doing my fish impression.

Jeez. What the hell was going on? I mean I know we hadn't seen much of each other for a couple of months, not unusual for Ranger, but normally when he came back it was the odd dinner here and the stolen kiss there. Usually Ranger wasn't so much into posturing and definitely into not doing the PDA thing. This last offer was way out from left field from the ground we'd been on lately.

The only guy who wasn't acting strange around me was Tank, but I think it had something to do with seeing Lula at least every two days. Thank God, I didn't think I was going to be able to take too much more push me, pull you bullshit.

Bobby and I spent the week doing the last minute prep stuff. I thought Bobby was getting ready for the Boy Scouts to be gone for a month with all the detailed lists and planning. Yeesh. I did less planning for my wedding and honeymoon years ago. Bobby was turning into the king of being over prepared, where did he stick that crown anyway?

A/N: I got in touch with my inner Lester – sorry for the cheesy lines – he made me do it and he made Ranger repeat them!

Thanks for reading and reviewing………….Alf.