Thanks again to jago-ji for her beta skills and honest opinions. I don't own these characters, but I like to play with them!

Promises, Promises …

Grandma Mazur was frowning as she rummaged through the bundle of flowers in the basket she held on her arm. She picked out a garish plastic spray of purple and pink tulips and held them toward me.

"Are you sure?" I asked. "They're pretty ugly."

"That's why I picked them," she said. "I never liked Stanley. He was a cheater and he might have been an abuser, too. I never understood why my sister, Violet, stayed with him."

I took the flowers and pulled the screwdriver from the back pocket of my jeans. The ground was soft in front of Great-Uncle Stanley's grave, and I made quick work of poking a hole in the soil. I shoved the plastic stem in deep and stood back to admire my handiwork. The flowers were a little off center, but Stanley wouldn't be complaining.

"If you didn't like him why are you decorating his grave?" I asked.

"Because I promised. I promised my mother I would make sure all the graves were decorated. It's why I come every year. I don't like hanging out here, but I gave my word, and when you do that, you have to keep your word."

"You don't like coming to the cemetery?" I asked. I was surprised. "I thought you enjoyed it. You do it with Mom every year."

"No. I don't like to do it at all. And neither does your mother. I know she told you she sprained her ankle and asked you to come with me. I didn't say anything, because I like spending time with you, but I don't think her ankle's sprained at all. It wasn't even swollen. I think she just wanted to see if Nikki and Victor were getting back together today."

"Nikki and Victor?"

"On the Young & the Restless. It's the big Memorial Day special show today and she thinks Nikki and Victor are going to get it on." Grandma paused as she rummaged around in the flower basket. She pulled an embroidered handkerchief out of its depths and wiped her brow. The day was heating up.

"I wouldn't mind getting it on with Victor," she continued. "Now that your parents have an HD TV you can see that Victor has a pretty good package. Not as good as Ranger's, but still …" I saw a faraway look in her eyes as her conversation drifted off, and I knew better than to question her on her thoughts. I remembered the day Grandma had seen Ranger naked. I knew there would be questions eventually, and I was determined not to answer them.

"Who's next?" I asked, trying to bring her attention back to the job at hand.

"Your Uncle Sandor," she said, snapping back into flower-searching mode. "I've got something special for him." She held out a spray of silk roses and I turned to do my planting duty.

"I'm still a little shocked that you don't like doing this," I told her. "All these years I thought you and Mom really enjoyed it."

"The cemetery is no place to hang out. But I made a promise and now I'm going to ask you to make one."

"Uh … okay." I hesitated. I was pretty sure I was about to sign away my Memorial Days for the rest of my life. Grandma was getting kind of old to be tramping around a cemetery. I guess I was next in line. Maybe I could get Val to help.

"I want you to promise to never come put flowers on my grave."

"What!"

"I mean it. When I'm gone and you miss me, I want you to mix yourself a nice highball and sit back and remember some good times with me, but don't waste your time hanging out here. I don't plan on sticking around here after I die, so I don't see why you should visit me here."

I was intrigued. "Where are you going to hang out?"

"I don't know, for sure," she said. "You have to promise me something else. I need to have an open coffin, no matter what. I'm planning on haunting someplace, and I want to make sure my spirit can get right out. Maybe I'll haunt the PNA hall, or maybe your parents' house, or maybe..." I heard the excitement in her voice. "Maybe I'll haunt Angie Morelli's house and scare the pants off Bella. It sounds like more fun haunting places than it does just laying in the cold ground."

"I guess it does," I said. It should have been creepy to consider, but for some reason it was kind of fun to imagine the ghost of Grandma chasing Bella around Joe's mom's house. "I don't like to think of you being dead, though."

"Yeah, I don't like to think of it either, but I should last a while longer. I've still got plenty of zip left in me, and I live a pretty calm life. Not a dangerous one like you do. Maybe you need to think about what places you're going to haunt when you're gone."

"I don't live such a dangerous life either," I told her. My hand unconsciously went to the still fresh scar on my neck and felt the steady pulse of the artery beneath the healing wound.

"I guess you don't," she agreed. "Especially since Ranger looks out for you."

Ranger did look out for me. It was true I hadn't seen much of him lately, but I sensed his presence, and I had called him a couple of times to help with skips. He'd been unavailable, but he'd sent someone each time, and I managed to send them back in one piece. No more incidents like the one with Mick Barnes.

"All done here," Grandma announced. "Now we need to move on to the earlier generation." I groaned a little at the realization we were probably going to use all the flowers Grandma had in her basket.

As we made our way to the older section of the cemetery I noticed a large black car that seemed to be keeping pace with us. Grandma and I were on foot, having left Uncle Sandor's Buick just inside the gate, but as we progressed through the cemetery the car seemed to be always on the periphery of my field of vision. I wondered for a moment if it was a RangeMan vehicle, but dismissed the idea quickly. Despite the color, it didn't look like a RangeMan fleet vehicle. We were in a cemetery so seeing a black car wasn't too unusual. And the cemetery was crowded with others making their way to graves of departed family. It was Decoration Day, after all.

We kept focused on our task as the day grew warmer. A few more graves and I could drop Grandma off and get ready for what I hoped would be an exciting evening. Ranger had called earlier and asked if I would come to his apartment this evening for dinner. He said he needed to talk with me and reminded me that he still owed me an Italian dinner from his Valentine's Day promise. I was hoping he was going to tell me that the secretive op he had going on regarding La Muerte Blanca was a done deal. He'd made no promises, but I hoped things would change between us when the door was closed on that problem.

"Just one more grave," Grandma said twenty minutes later, "and then there's a nice Entenmann's crumb cake waiting for us at home. I saved my aunt Mary's grave for last. She was a pip. I always tried to be like her."

"I don't remember Aunt Mary."

"I don't remember her either. She died young, but I heard lots about her. She was a flapper, and a gangster's moll, but she was really an undercover operator. She worked for Eliot Ness." Grandma stopped and looked sideways at me. "Maybe that's where you get it from." I didn't ask what "it" was, but the quality and size of the spray of silk flowers I anchored in the ground gave a clue as to the high regard Grandma held her in. As I stood I brushed an unruly spring of curls off my forehead.

I was happy to see the basket was empty. I didn't mind, too much, helping Grandma out, but I needed some time to ready myself for later. Exfoliation was high on my priority list. A shiver of excitement at the thought of an evening with Ranger ran through me. Grandma noticed.

"Ghost walk over your grave?" she asked. I didn't answer.

"Are you coming in for cake?" Grandma asked as we pulled up in front of my parents' house.

"Sure," I said. "I can't stay too long though. I've got …work… to do later on."

"What kind of work?"

"I'm meeting with Ranger," I said. "He has some business to discuss with me."

"That sounds like the best kind of work," Grandma said. "I'd like to have Ranger discuss business with me, sometime." She tapped the old-fashioned dial clock on the dashboard. "Is this the right time?"

"Yes."

"Good, then maybe if we hurry, we can catch the last part of the Young & the Restless. We can check out Victor and you can see how his package compares to Ranger's."

0O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O0

I stood sideways and looked into the mirror on my bathroom door. I sucked in my stomach as much as I could and exhaled in disgust. I should have stopped with one piece of the Entenmann's. I went back into my bedroom and pulled off the red sheath dress. I hadn't been sure it was the right thing to wear anyway. What did one wear to a visit with Ranger, that included dinner, and I wasn't sure what was for dessert?

I settled on casual. I wore jeans and a nice clingy blue shirt that was cut low enough to show some cleavage and long enough to cover the evidence of my extra Entenmann's. I was sliding my feet into sandals and admiring the fresh coat of red polish on my toes when there was a knock at my door. I frowned as I realized I'd have to get rid of whomever it was quickly. I wasn't running late, but I had no time to spare. I pulled the door open and couldn't prevent my mouth from gaping.

"Hello, Stephanie. Long time, no see." Jeanne Ellen Burrows stood in the middle of my doorway, dressed completely in body-hugging black spandex.

"Uh, yeah," I said, so surprised I struggled to get the words out.

"Are you ready?"

"Ready?"

"Yes. Ready to go to RangeMan."

"Oh, well, I'll just drive myself, but it's nice of you to have come by." That was a lie. What the heck was going on? Ranger had promised me dinner along with conversation, but he hadn't promised me we'd eat alone. Surely, she wasn't joining us for dinner.

"I bumped into Ranger earlier today," she said. "He knew I had plans to be at RangeMan this evening and he asked me to stop by here and bring you with me. I told him I would. It's hard to say no to that man, but you know that." Her mouth curled into what could only be described as a smirk.

Ranger asked her to pick me up. That was going to require some thinking, so instead of continuing what was probably a pointless conversation, I picked up my purse, and locked the door behind me. Normally, it took ten minutes to get to RangeMan. Jeanne Ellen should have used her GPS because the round-about route she chose took us twenty, but I didn't correct her. I wasn't sure what was going on and I didn't want to advertise my ignorance.

When we finally pulled into the RangeMan garage, I wasted no time in exiting her vehicle. Jeanne Ellen pointed toward the elevator. "Ranger said he'd be in his apartment by the time we got here," she told me. "You can have the guy at the desk call and tell Ranger you're here."

"No problem," I said, smiling as sweetly as I could. I pulled out my fob. "I've got the magic key. I'll be fine on my own." I saw her eyes widen slightly. Take that, you catwoman wannabe.

"Okay, well, nice seeing you again," she said. She turned and headed for the stairs. I wondered if her destination was the control room. Maybe she was working for RangeMan. That would explain the black clothing.

I wondered about it all the way up to the seventh floor. Jeanne Ellen and Ranger had known each other for a long time, professionally and personally. At one point I was sure they done more than work together. I'd never asked Ranger straight out, partly because his past was none of my business, and mainly because I was afraid, in equal parts, of what he would or wouldn't tell me. I didn't like Jeanne Ellen, and not just because I was jealous of her job skills. She had a way of making me feel superfluous, not unlike the way Tank made me feel. Nothing was ever said, but I got her vibe. She thought she was superior to me.

As the door in front of me opened and Ranger pulled me across the threshold and into his arms, I forgot about Jeanne Ellen and everything else but the sensual promise in his dark eyes.

It started with the touch of his lips to mine. I vaguely heard the sound of my purse hitting the foyer floor, and I felt the whoosh of air from the door closing behind me, but my attention was on Ranger. His kiss, his scent, the touch of his hands on my body as he pulled me into his embrace, melted me. It was at once familiar, and foreign. I hadn't seen him since Easter, but feeling his body against mine, it was as if we'd never been apart. Inexplicably, I became aware of tears running down my face. Ranger must have become aware of them also, because he pulled back and looked into my eyes.

"Babe?"

I sniffed and tried to turn away, embarrassed by the unexpected water works. He wouldn't let me. Instead he kissed the path of my tears down my cheeks until his lips once again reached my mouth. Oh, great, Ranger in gentle mode. I was a complete goner and completely in love with this man. Until this point, my self-avowed opportunist mode had never had a chance to get off the ground, but I was going to take full advantage of what I could feel him offering. I pushed my body forward against his hardness, and slid my hands up under his shirt.

I let my fingers slide over his chiseled abdomen and toward his nipples which I knew from previous experience would awaken the beast. My hands stilled before they reached their goal. I pulled away from him and raised his shirt to verify with my eyes, what I'd felt with my fingertips. He'd lost weight, a lot of it. His abdominal muscles were sharply defined, but I could see his ribs beneath skin that was warm under my hands. I let my eyes travel down his body and, reeling, I pulled farther away to better look at this new version of Ranger. He took advantage of the space and pulled his shirt up over his head and let it drop to the floor. And when his hands skimmed the hem of my shirt and started sliding it up, I grasped his arm as my entire body stiffened.

"Babe?"

"Ranger!" How I managed to utter his name through the sudden tightening of my throat was a mystery. My hand slowly turned his noticeably thinner arm outward. The evidence was there but I didn't believe what I was seeing. Needle tracks. His eyes followed mine and when he realized the cause of my distress he spoke softly.

"It's not what you're thinking."

"You can't know what I'm thinking," I said. "I don't know what I'm thinking."

"They are needle tracks, Babe. But not from drugs. Not street drugs in any case."

"Oh!" I cried. "You're ill!" Again my tears began to fall. He pulled me into his arms and held me tight. His weight loss hadn't affected his strength, because I couldn't move out of his embrace, even though I tried. I wriggled ineffectively, trying to break free.

"Be still," he said. "I'm not sick, and I'm not mainlining. This is a disguise, and this is what I need to talk with you about."

"A-a-disguise?" I couldn't help the stammer.

He let go of me and bent to pick up his shirt. I watched as he pulled it back on, the long sleeves covering the sores on his arm. I let him take my hand and lead me down the hall into his kitchen.

"Let's eat first, and then I'll explain. We have a lot to talk about." That was a first—Ranger saying we would be talking a lot. We had never talked a lot. But even the thought of getting some straight answers out of him couldn't take my mind off his appearance.

I wasn't a good judge of weight, so I had no idea how much Ranger normally weighed, but he had lost enough that the skin beneath his cheekbones had sunken in giving him a fierce and edgy look. On close inspection there were the beginnings of dark circles under his eyes. His black shirt covered his arms to the wrist and obscured what I'd seen, but I didn't need a second look. Both arms had been covered with needle tracks, some of them looking angry and inflamed.

I must have looked as devastated as I felt because he moved into me again and pulled me close against him. He spoke softly in my ear. "It wasn't my intention to surprise you with this. I'd planned to tell you, but the fact that you reacted as you did tells me I've done a good job in preparing for what I'm about to do. This is a disguise of sorts, and the look on your face lets me know it's a believable one. I'm not sick, Babe."

Ranger pulled back the chair and I sat wordlessly while he opened the oven and brought out a tray containing two plates covered with domed covers. I recognized the touch of Ella and said nothing as he positioned the plates, one in front of me and one across from me. He didn't sit though, instead he moved to the counter where there were two glasses and an uncorked bottle of red wine. He poured a glass of the wine and set it in front of me. He filled the other glass with water from a filtered pitcher and brought it to the table.

He sat and then looked across at me as he simultaneously removed both covers. My plate was covered with a generous portion of veal scallopini, pasta and Italian green beans. "This is Ella's version of Italian," Ranger told me. I looked at his uncovered plate to see a small grilled chicken breast, without sauce of any kind and a generous serving of green beans. I stared pointedly at his plate.

"Italian is not on my diet right now, but there is plenty for you, and Ella has left dessert for you in the fridge."

I pushed my plate away, but I did take a big gulp of what I'm sure was an excellent wine. I didn't taste it. "What the hell is going on, Ranger?"

"Eat and I'll tell you."

I didn't feel like eating, but I heard something in Ranger's voice that made me acquiesce, so I took a bite.

"I'm leaving early tomorrow, or later tonight, depending on how you look at it. I'm going deep undercover and I need to look the part I'll be playing."

"An emaciated junkie?" I asked.

"A desperate man, with a drug habit," he replied. "Bobby gave me a solution that irritates the skin as the needle goes in, but is basically just saline. I need to realistically look like a mainliner for my cover."

"What do you mean, you're going undercover? You're not a cop. Cops go undercover. Joe goes undercover. You don't."

"I do. I've made several previous trips to set this one up. I'm going undercover in Colombia. I've worked my way into Eduardo Vera's cartel." Ranger stopped talking and calmly cut into his chicken, took a bite and seemed to savor it. He must have starved himself to lose so much weight in such a short period of time.

"I'll be living and working with his men," he continued, "until I get the information I need to bring the organization down. When that happens, he will be assassinated and I will come home."

"You're going to kill him?" I asked.

"Presently, it's not the plan for me to kill him, but I will make it possible for that scenario to happen. Or I will do it, if need be."

"But I thought he knew you. He'll recognize you. It doesn't sound like a good plan to me." I was furiously folding and unfolding a cloth napkin in my lap. The food had been forgotten.

"It's a very carefully thought out plan. All the groundwork has been laid, and now it's time to move forward. I can't share all the details with you, but I wanted you to know I was going. And I need to get a promise from you before I go."

I immediately thought of Grandma Mazur and my promise earlier in the day to not hang around her grave. I had the illogical thought Ranger was going to ask the same thing of me.

"This is dangerous, this undercover thing you're getting ready to do." It wasn't a question. I knew what the answer would be.

"Potentially, yes. There are safeguards that have been put into place. I can't go into detail, Babe, but there is one man who can do this job, and it's me. I have to move on Vera now."

I took another drink of wine. "What promise?" I asked.

"Later. First tell me what your relationship with Niko is like these days."

I raised an eyebrow. "Niko? I have no relationship with Niko. I told him after … after Easter that I'd decided to pull back from seeing him."

"And his response?"

I stared at Ranger for a few moments before I answered. The slenderness of his face was unnerving and I felt as though I was talking to a stranger. He must have sensed my unease because his hand moved quickly to grasp mine and his fingers began a soft exploration of my palm. My body reacted with an electric current that wasn't restricted just to my palm. It was still Ranger all right. He might look different, but he was still magic.

"He asked if it was because I was involved with you. I told him no. He told me I was a bad liar and that he was a patient man and could wait till the time was right. And I haven't seen him since. It was almost embarrassing how easily he gave up his pursuit of me."

"Niko didn't back off completely," Ranger said. "He's been having you surveilled almost continuously. Have you been unaware of that?"

I remembered the black car at the cemetery. Other than that I hadn't noticed a thing, but I wasn't telling Ranger. "I've seen someone from time to time," I said. "Today at the cemetery with Grandma there was a black car. I didn't think it was RangeMan."

"RangeMan was there, too, Babe." I pulled my hand from his and stood from the table and turned my back to him. He didn't move.

"Am I in danger then, I mean, more than usual?" Again I remembered this morning's conversation with Grandma Mazur. My life was safer because of Ranger. I found the idea of a life in which RangeMan was my constant guardian angel unsettling. I wanted a life where I was Ranger's partner, not where I was his obligation.

"Stephanie." I turned back to him at his use of my name. "This is different. I'm getting ready to destroy not only the empire of La Muerte Blanca, but possibly this will bring down the Ramos empire as well. Niko set this in action. He had hoped to use me to help him gain power over Vera. If he realizes the plan is to destroy Vera, he'll try to stop me any way he can."

"You mean by coming after me?"

"Yes, because he thinks you are important to me."

"Well, he's wrong. I can count on one hand the times I've seen you in the last six months. I'm hardly central in your world!" I don't know what kind of response I was expecting, but I got none. I searched his face for some emotion. It was blank. Ranger looks out for you. My grandma's words came back with a rush, and I felt suddenly ashamed. Of course he cared for me. I knew it.

"Ranger, I'm sorry."

"You've heard the expression, let sleeping dogs lie?" he asked me, ignoring my apology. I nodded, not sure how this related to our discussion. "That's what I've been doing. I can't ignore my past any longer if I'm to have a future." There was silence in the apartment for a full minute. I sat thinking about everything I'd heard and Ranger sat immobile, his eyes never leaving me. The words, when they came were softly spoken, but clear.

"I want a future," he said. "With you."

I think I stopped breathing for a moment. I'd wanted to hear those words for so long that when he said them I was, at first, unbelieving. I had to hear them again.

"You want a future with me?"

"I do." He stood and came to me with his hand held out. I took it and stood to be immediately swept into a tight embrace. I buried my face in his chest and, when he spoke, his words ruffled my hair. "When I broke free of Vera I swore I'd never go back. It was the deciding factor when I left government work and established RangeMan. I can't ignore the sleeping dog any longer. I have to go back, before we can move forward."

"And you're leaving tonight," I said. "When will you be back?" Ranger disengaged from me and walked to his foyer. He picked something up off the console table and handed it to me. It was a wedding invitation. I read the invitation and then looked questioningly at him.

"It's the couple from the Radius. Cathy and Tim," he said.

"I never knew her name," I said. I remembered I'd called her Chatty Cathy though and felt a momentary pang at my thoughtlessness. Since I'd heard she would be okay I hadn't given the couple much thought at all. My thoughts had been centered on me and Ranger, and where we were going, or not going.

"I paid her hospital bill," Ranger said. "I think the invitation is their thank you. Do you see the date?"

"July 4th," I said.

"I've RSVP'd for us," Ranger said. "They're starting their married life on Independence Day. I'll be back by then, and we'll attend their wedding. It will be our independence from my past. Our beginning."

"Ranger … I…" I stopped because I didn't really know what to say. Everything I have wanted was suddenly being placed before me.

"Say you'll attend with me, Stephanie."

"I will."

"If things go as expected I will be back in the States and through with my debriefing and home in time for this wedding. You may not see me until then, but I'll be there."

"Promise?"

"I promise. Nothing short of death will keep me from being there."

I shivered. "Don't say that."

"I'll be there, Babe. I've promised. Now I need your promise. Come on, let's sit."

Our dinner was forgotten as I followed Ranger to his sofa and let him pull me down next to him.

"Niko Mattas must be convinced there is nothing between you and me. You will, of course have RangeMan protection while I'm gone, but it will be discreet. There will always be an operative at your disposal, and you will be tracked. My man won't be dressed in RangeMan black, but he'll be there for you. I want Niko to see no evidence of this connection. That's why I've stayed away from you. He suspects more than knows the level of our involvement. Promise me you'll accept my help with this and try to convince Mattas we are nothing to one another."

I knew my promise would enable Ranger to do his job better. He wouldn't have to worry about me. I'd be the poster child for behaving well. The RangeMan operative, probably Tank in Ranger's absence, would have no problems with me.

"I promise," I said. "So you've picked out someone to be my bodyguard whose appearance won't give away his RangeMan connection?" Or her RangeMan connection. Oh shit, I was starting to understand why Jeanne Ellen had picked me up earlier.

"Yes," he said.

I pulled away from him and got to my feet. I paced the room a couple of times before I turned back to him. "You could have asked me," I said. "I want to cooperate. I want to be safe, and I want you to be able to go and not worry about me back here, but Ranger, she doesn't like me—and I'm not wild about her."

"Babe?"

"Jeanne Ellen. Why would you choose Jeanne Ellen?"

"I didn't."

"But…" I started, only to be silenced by the 200 watt smile. It went a long way toward erasing the sharpened angles of his face.

"I thought you might be upset when you found out who I've asked to watch over you, but it's not Jeanne Ellen."

"It's not?"

"No. I did ask her to bring you over tonight because I didn't want Niko's men to suspect you were here, and she was coming over anyway. I didn't think your tail would make the connection. Jeanne Ellen took a circuitous route to make sure she wasn't followed, so I think it's safe to say Niko doesn't know you're here."

"What's she doing here?" I asked. "Does she work for you?"

"No." Ranger seemed startled by my question. "I thought you knew," he said. "She and Tank are involved. It's been the nine-day wonder around here. I thought Lula would have told you."

Jeanne Ellen and Tank. I gave a whole body shudder. Lula had never said a word, which in itself was telling. "I didn't know," I said. "I've been pretty much out of the loop around here for a while. At least now I understand why. You're trying to keep away from me to protect me. I think, on some level I should be pissed off, but really—I'm grateful."

Ranger's phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID and then brought the phone to his ear.

"Yo." He listened and then spoke once more. "His timing is impeccable. Send him up." He disconnected and turned to me. "Remember, you're grateful. The person who has agreed to look after you and pose as your lover while I'm away is here. He's on his way up."

"Pose as my lover?" My eyebrows raised. "You said I'd have protection. Not a fake boyfriend."

"If Niko thinks you are in a relationship he is much more likely to believe you have no part in my life."

I thought about it. Ranger was right, but I wasn't at all sure about pretending to be involved with someone. The ramification of that scenario could be far reaching. Especially if my mother got wind I was dating someone new.

There was a knock at the door and Ranger went to answer it. I saw a male hand shake Ranger's. It was attached to a nicely muscled forearm. There was something familiar about that forearm, but before I could figure out what it was the body behind the forearm walked into the room.

Joseph Anthony Morelli. He echoed Jeanne Ellen's words. "Long time, no see, Cupcake."

I was speechless. But only for a moment. "What the fuck! You're sending me back to Morelli again!"

Morelli looked at Ranger. "Why don't I just wait down in the garage?" he asked.

"Good idea," Ranger said. "She won't be long."

"The hell I won't."

Twenty minutes later I jerked the passenger door of Joe's SUV open. The knuckles of my right hand were stinging where I'd punched them into Ranger's still rock hard abdomen. My lips were swollen from a series of semi-orgasmic kisses and my body was pulsing with unspent adrenaline.

"Take me to Pino's," I commanded. "I'm in the mood for Italian."