AN: Now I have my coffee, my croissant and my plan for the day. I am really hyped up about it, but before I go and conquer my to-do list, we all need to learn about Stephanie's choices.

Choices, Chapter 2

Something was nagging at the corner of my brain. Like a buzzing mosquito, it fluttered around my head, making me toss and turn. There was a weight that I couldn't move. My leg was heavy, too heavy to lift. Zap, that buzzing hit me between the eyes and they flew open.

It was night and I wasn't alone. "Bobby?"

"No, honey, not Bobby," a voice answered. The voice belonged to Lester.

Lester was known to be a ladies man, but I only ever saw him with women when we were doing our distraction thing. He was tall, taller than Morelli or Ranger, and of obvious mixed race. His face had a sculptured look that seemed to destine him for modeling, but his body was one of fighter. I had seen him in the gym quite frequently, boxing or sparring with the other guys. I saw him land punches on both Tank and Ranger, although both matches appeared to end in a draw. He was definitely built, but in a way different from Ranger, different from Morelli. The light bulb blinked over my head. He was more like the two of them combined. His hair was straight and his eyes dark. I could see him in the shadow now.

"Hey, you're finally awake," he smiled down on me as he turned on the lamp on the nightstand.

"I need to check your eyes. You took quite a tumble in the street. Bobby thinks you're okay, but if you hadn't woken up by now, I would have had to make you wake up."

I was temporarily blinded by the light, but could hear the teasing in his voice. "And exactly how would you have done that?" I teased right back.

"Honey, I can be very persuasive when I want to be." His voice was deep and yet silky at the same time. There was an accent, but in all the time I've known him, I could never figure out where it was from. Of course, I never cared enough, apparently, to ask him directly. Okay, maybe that was a bit harsh. Actually, many of the Merry Men scared the crap out of me. They've never done anything to make me even think twice about them, but just looking at them was pretty damned intimidating. Right now, Lester was a different sort of intimidating. You'd have to be unconscious to be this close to him and not notice how sexy he was. Was it some of requirement for the job?

Lester laughed. "Not that I know of," he finished.

Oh Jesus, I said that out loud. Talk your way out of it Steph, you can do it. "You startled me, that's all."

Lester sat on the bed, looking into my eyes. Oh yeah, he had to check my pupils or something. It was a professional task, not that the smoldering look in his eyes meant anything. When did he get to be so good looking? Why hadn't I noticed him before?

"You were always too preoccupied with Ranger or the cop," he answered my supposedly unasked question.

I asked that one out loud too. "Sorry," I replied.

"Don't be Stephanie. I've watched you with those two for a long time now. I know that in your own way, you love both of them, but you can't tell me that those relationships are very fulfilling. I know the boss; I know how he is. He's not going to change, Honey. He is what he's been made."

I swallowed hard. I knew he was right. Ranger was Ranger. Enough said. He took what I gave, more if he could get away with it, but there wasn't anything long term in the future. Morelli was a different story. He promised long term, promised more than that. He promised what I wasn't sure I wanted. I couldn't see Morelli living with my choice of careers, without a family.

"Since when did you become so talkative? Isn't there something in the Rangeman contract about not divulging information?" I was being snippy and I knew it.

Lester just smiled and positioned himself to lean back on the bed. Before I realized what was happening, he had me laying against his side, my head on his shoulder.

"You're irritated and you have a right to be. Ranger called to check on you and will call you again tomorrow. It's late now. You've slept the day away. The cop called as well to check on you."

I sniffled against his shoulder. "Yeah, but did anyone stop by?"

I was listening to Lester's heartbeat. "Your dad stopped by. He looked in on you sleeping and kissed your forehead. It was a really touching moment."

Thank you Daddy. The one man I can count on.

"You're wrong there, Bombshell. You can count on me." He whispered the words against my hair. "We might not always understand it, beautiful, but you are a part of our world. A part of my world. You have no idea how much I look forward to seeing you at the office, even if I know you don't see me."

That sounded kind of sad, I thought. Why hadn't I seen him, I mean really seen him. Of course, the answer was Ranger. When he entered the room, I was generally blinded to anyone and anything else.

"I'm really sorry," I offered. "I didn't know how my working at Rangeman made you feel. You're a great guy, Lester. If only some of the stories that I have heard about you are true, you'd be a fine catch for any woman."

He tensed. "I don't want just any woman, I want you. I've watched you as I said. Watch for too long as you struggled with relationships that wouldn't or couldn't go anywhere. Well, I am going for broke and asking you now, while I have you captive, if you would go out with me."

My turn to tense up. What does one say to something like that? I hadn't really dated anyone other than Dickie. You really can't call anything that happened in my relationship with Joe as a date. Even my evenings with Ranger generally started with work. It might kind of be nice to just go out.

Instinctively, I snuggled up against him. He felt nice. He was hard and warm at the same time. His arm was wrapped protectively around my shoulders. I realized that he was handing me a glass and I moved up a bit to free myself to take it.

"What's this?" He handed me two pills.

"Bobby said for you to take these when you wake up. They're for pain. Not too strong, but enough to keep the worst of it at bay."

I swallowed the pills. "They won't put me back to sleep again will they?"

"Nah, you'll be awake for awhile yet. I am betting that you're pretty hungry by now."

My stomach picked that moment to confirm his suspicions. "Yeah, I guess I am."

He lowered me back on the pillows and set off for the kitchen. I was just getting settled when he reappeared with the tray I had earlier this morning. This time, it held two halves of a meatball sub.

"I kept it warm for you," he explained, settling the tray over my lap. I picked up the first half and dug in. It was heavenly.

"Honey, you keep moaning like that and the neighbors will have a field day. Good for my rep though."

I smiled at him. I kind of never know when I am making those noises while eating, but it never fails to happen around one of Ranger's men. Maybe that's because they are the ones who sneak me in the fatty foods I love.

"Hey, that's why you guys are always so helpful with the Pinos and donuts, isn't it. You like the sound effects." I wasn't sure whether to be annoyed or not.

"You got it, baby. We contribute to your addiction just to get a rise out of you." His wink told me he meant that in more than one way.

"Just another way of being entertainment," I sighed. The thought was actually depressing.

Lester came to sit beside me, grabbing the other half of the sub. "Bombshell, you're not just entertainment to us. I understand that it might appear that way, but you bring something to our world that we didn't even realize was missing. You're smart, beautiful, warm and sensitive. You look at us and see us for real, not like others do. You care enough to know our names, to be a part of what we do. There aren't many women who would do that."

I considered what he told me. I guess I could understand about the seeing them part. All of Ranger's employees were big men. Big men with rather large assets. I had seen them in bars and knew how most women responded to them. I mean, maybe for a while it wouldn't be a difficult thing to deal with, but after some time, it had to be a pain to have women fall at your feet.

Lester chuckled. "You have no idea. But it isn't really like that most of the time. The women who throw themselves at you are looking for a good time. We tend to scare the women who might be looking for a relationship. It's kind of hard to find your true love if you can't get them over what you do for a living, if they can't get past the image."

I think I understood. "Like what Ranger says about his life no lending itself to relationships?"

Lester grew serious. "It isn't that our lives prevent us from having relationships necessarily, it is just that we have to be more careful. Over the years, we have all done things, met people, that could come back to haunt us. We have to be careful that our past doesn't bleed all over our futures."

I wondered about his choice of words. "That's true for a lot of people, Les. We all have skeletons in our past to deal with."

"Yeah, but most people's skeletons aren't armed and dangerous."

He did have a point there.