Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters. Well besides the new guys. =)
"What the fuck are you talking about, Ranger? You're alive, you're standing in my kitchen, talking to me! You aren't dead," I explained. Did he go crazy? What happened to him? I hadn't heard from him in a while since he had been in the wind,
but now here he was. He must have gone crazy. I saw him smirk a bit.
"No, Babe, I meant that everybody thinks I'm dead, I have to keep it that way," he told me.
"You could have told me that instead of spewing some mysterious bullshit! Wait, then why are you telling me?" I asked, clearly not understanding what he was saying. So sue me, I'm not the best thinker at two in the morning.
"You're the only one that can help me babe," he said, his eyes burning with such an intensity that I couldn't look away or say no to what he was asking. All I could do was nod. He breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thanks babe," he said before planting a kiss on my lips, that had my toes curling.
"No problem, Ranger," I panted, slightly out of breath. I saw him smirk.
"Let's go to bed," he said.
"You're not sleeping on the couch?" I asked a little worriedly.
"You know I can't fit on that tiny thing," he told me with a wolf grin.
"Fine, but you have to stay on your side," I grumbled. We got in to bed and in minutes I was back to sleep. I woke up feeling warm and safe. I opened my eyes and stretched when I remembered Ranger was here. I saw that I was lying on top of him and he had his arms around me.
"Morning babe," he said, before he flipped me over and planted a kiss on my lips that made my doodah hum.
"I have to go to the bathroom," I blurted out, being the chicken that I am. I scrambled out of bed and got to the bathroom and heard him chuckling at me. When I got out of the bathroom Ranger was still in bed, but he was sitting up.
"Listen babe, you're going to get phone calls today about me. You have to act and pretend like I'm dead. You can't say a word to anyone, not even my team, they don't know anything," Ranger told me, and that was almost the longest thing I've ever heard him say. I nodded. I had been in drama when I was in high school, and I was pretty sure I could still do the cry on demand thing. I heard a knock at the door and I looked at Ranger. He got up and was in my closet in about five seconds. Wow, I never pictured him as one to hide in a closet. I walked out to open the door. I saw it was Lester, looking quite sullen. I opened the door with a smile.
"Hey, Les! What's up?" I greeted cheerfully, after all I didn't know Ranger was dead yet.
"Hey Steph, I have some bad news...to uh...tell you," Les started, "we better sit down." We sat down on my 'tiny' couch.
"What's wrong Les? What happened?" I asked, putting my acting skills to the test.
"It's Ranger...," he said. I opened my eyes wide.
"Is he....is...he...okay?" I asked, my breathing going uneven. Boy, this wasn't easy.
"Steph, he was...killed," Lester told me. A hand went to my mouth in surprise.
"No! No...no....no, he can't be...he ccc..can't be dead," I shouted, my intensity surprising the both of us. Tears came to my eyes, on cue. I still had it.
"I'm sorry Steph, we don't know how it happened," Les said.
"Why? He can't be gone, he just can't," I sobbed, "it's not fair! It wasn't his time. Why him?" I clutched onto Lester for dear life and sobbed my heart out. He rubbed my back.
"We don't know Steph, sometimes stuff like this just happens," he murmured into my ear. I gulped.
"H...hh..how did he die?" I asked, trying to keep from crying.
"Looks like there was a bomb in his apartment and it just blew," he told me, "the whole seventh floor was destroyed, luckily it didn't get beyond it." I saw the tears in his eyes, but I knew he wasn't going to cry.
"When is the funeral?" I asked, my throat kind of scratchy.
"Tomorrow at four," he told me, "there isn't going to be a viewing." I nodded. He hugged me one last time before getting up.
"Do his parents know yet?" I asked, hoping they didn't, for their sake. I had a feeling they wouldn't take it too well to find out their son hadn't really died.
"No, we aren't going to tell them until we can find out who did this. We'll have another funeral for them, when they find out," he explained as we made our way to the door. I got another tear to escape down my cheek as I let Lester out.
"Bye, Les," I said, and he hugged me again, longer this time. I could feel the anger and sadness radiating off of him.
"Bye Steph." I closed the door behind him and locked it. I put my back against the door and sank down to the floor. Lying to Lester was really hard, especially knowing how much pain he was in. Ranger came in.
"Where'd you learn to lie like that, babe?" he asked. I looked up at him with angry eyes.
"How could you do that to them?" I asked him, "how can you make them suffer like that?" I came closer to him.
"Do you know how much pain Lester was in?!" I asked, giving him a push, "do you?" I gave him another push and he grabbed my hands as I was crying.
"Imagine how the others feel," I sobbed, "why didn't you tell them?" Ranger had his blank mask on, I hated it. He didn't even care that his men were suffering because they thought he was dead.
"We have a mole at RangeMan," Ranger told me, his voice like steel, "one of our good men got killed because someone gave him up. The only people who could do that work at RangeMan." I gaped. I didn't know this.
"Who would do it?" I asked, looking up at Ranger. He sighed.
"I don't know, that's why I had to fake my death. I can move around easier, since nobody will be looking for me," he told me, "and I'll get more information. I am also hoping the mole will be more likely reveal itself if he thinks no one is watching."
"You don't think Lester did this, do you?" I asked. I had become pretty close to Lester, he was like the brother I never had. We had become partners when I was working more with RangeMan. Joe and I had called it quits about two months after Ranger went in the wind. I was actually going out on a date with a guy I had met at RangeMan, a new recruit. His name was Chip...no...wait...it was Chad...no...crap...Chase! It was Chase.
"Who's Chase?" Ranger asked, looking at me with a raised eyebrow. Crap, I said that out loud. Ranger chuckled and nodded.
"So who do you think the mole is?" I asked, trying to change the subject. It seemed Ranger didn't really want to find out who Chase was, so he just shrugged his shoulders.
"Not sure, but we have a guy undercover now. We have to find the mole, before our undercover operative is killed too. I have to see what I can dig up. I need you to work more at RangeMan," he told me. I looked at him.
"What?" he asked.
"I forgot, you don't know that I've already been working RangeMan full time. Skips have been slow at Vinnie's," I informed him. He nodded.
"You should go get dressed," he told me, making his way towards the coffee pot. I nodded. I walked into my room and took a shower before I got dressed. When I came out coffee was brewed and eggs were on the counter.
"Thanks!" I shouted as he made his way to the bathroom. I ate a plate of eggs and I drank a cup of coffee. Ranger came out just as I put my gun on my belt. It was regulation for all RangeMan employees.
"You going to work?" he asked, with a slight smirk.
"Do I have anything better to do?" I asked, "besides I can keep an eye on the guys, keep my ears open." He nodded.
"You should make it look like you've been crying," he told me. I sighed.
"Fine, but how do you know if I would be crying if you really died?" I asked. He gave me a pointed look. I threw up my hands.
"Okay, I would be balling like a little baby," I told him. I went into the bathroom and pinched my cheeks, so they would be red, as if I had been crying. I smudged my make-up a bit and then I walked back out to Ranger.
"Better?" I asked. He came closer.
"Not quite." He lowered his lips to mine and kissed me senseless.
"There you go," he said with a smirk. I stuck out my tongue and turned to leave. He gave me a playful swat on the butt as I grabbed a tissue and my purse. I drove to RangeMan and I was able to get a few tears. I pulled into the underground garage. I parked my car and went up to the fifth floor. Everyone looked sad. I knocked on Tank's office door.
"Come in," he boomed. I opened the door.
"Oh, hey, Bomber. I take it you heard the news?" he asked and I gave a quick nod, letting more tears run down my face.
"How did it happen, Tank?" I asked, sitting in one of the chairs in front of his desk.
"Honestly, I don't know, and it's killing me," Tank said. I got up and gave him a hug.
"I can't believe he's gone. I mean, I always thought he would just...be there," I told him.
"I know what you mean. I'm left in charge of everything now. Top priority though, is finding out who killed bossman," Tank said. I nodded.
"I'd like to help," I told him, "who knew he was coming back? And where had he been?"
"All the guys at RangeMan knew he was coming back, and when he arrived. Nobody could have done it without being seen unless they put something in his bag, which is highly unlikely," Tank told me, "Steph, I've been thinking. We've had two of our men killed in the past two weeks. First Roy, now Ranger. Something isn't right." Tank sighed and put his head in his hands. I patted him on the back.
"My spidey-sense is tingling, but I don't know what about yet," I told him, it was the only way I could try and tell him he was on the right track, without out right saying it.
"You tell me if you feel anything else, you have some of the best instincts," Tank told me, "oh, and take the day off."
"But...but I have nothing else to do!" I argued. He looked at me.
"Steph, we're all taking this hard and you were one of the closest people to him," Tank said.
"You have no idea," I muttered. Why did Ranger pick me to tell?
"What?" Tank asked.
"Nothing. I'll take the day off. See you tomorrow," I said, kissing him on the cheek. I exited his office and passed the control room. Chase hurried in front of me with a smile. He was a new recruit, got here about four weeks ago, while Ranger had been in the wind. He was like all the other merry men. Very, very hot and buff. He has sandy blond hair and blue eyes, muscles on top of muscles, in the most extremely hot way.
A/N: What'd you think? More to come! Oooh...wonder what's gonna happen between her and Chase. =) Lol, tell me what you think. Hopefully I'll update again today. Thanks for reading.