Disclaimer: I don't own Plum characters. A nod of respect goes to Janet Evanovich and her imagination for creating these characters.
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Spoilers: Through EE (Explosive Eighteen)
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Challenge: Blood
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Rating: PG-13
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Pairing: Babe
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Universe: Canon.
..::Priorities::..
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A blood stain.
Yeah, that was what I was seeing.
The hand print on my white front door was startling, and compare it to the puddle making it's way underneath my door, I wasn't sure if I was going to throw up or pass out.
Ranger slid up behind me. His warm hand comforting on my lower back as he talked low on a cell phone. He flipped the phone closed and steered me away from the door.
"You've got a problem."
I nodded as though I'd turned into a bobble head. "No shit."
My heart started to roar in my head and my knees buckled. Ranger caught me before I hit the floor. "You need to breathe."
If I was on my game, I would've told him if I wasn't breathing I'd be dead, but no one could blame me for not being witty.
"This is the third time, babe." Ranger eased up on my head and ran his hand down to my neck. His thumb ran up and down my neck and maybe it was because I felt faint, but I swear I could hear the wheels turning in his head. "The first time, I let it slide that you wanted to stay. The second time the cop interfered before I could suggest where you go. This time, no is not an option. I'm suggesting you stay at Rangeman until this gets figured out."
I didn't bother to lift my head. "You suggest or you demand? Because I can tell you what that sounded like to me."
"I don't care how it sounded." Ranger grabbed underneath my arm and hauled me to my feet as we heard footsteps on the stairs. Lester and Hal were followed by a couple of cops and a parade of people after that. I turned away when they opened the door. I didn't need to see it after I walked into my apartment the first time; it was burned into my permanent memory.
After I talked to Carl, turned down an offer to bunk with him and Shirley, Ranger steered me to Hal. "Don't let her out of your sight."
"Yes boss."
"You're pawning me off?" He didn't bother to answer me and I threw my hands up in the air. "Unfuckingbelieveable!"
Everyone turned to look at me and I shot everyone a dirty look as I stomped away from Hal and towards Ranger. "I'm not going to lie, Hal." I shot Ranger a nasty look as he stopped me in my tracks and shoved me back towards Hal. "But I'm not happy about this little plan of Ranger's to kidnap me."
Carl's eyebrow shot up into his non-existent hair line and gave Ranger a look.
"Babe." Ranger shook his head at Carl and frowned at me. "Don't give Hal any problems or you'll answer to me."
I scowled as I disappeared down the stairs. That threat didn't scare me.
Okay, only a little. But I wouldn't admit it.
"Don't worry, Stephanie." Hal lumbered down the stairs more uncoordinated than a T-Rex and I tried to stay out of his way. He turned to grin at me and stutter stepped as he missed a step and had to jump the rest of the stairs to keep from falling. "I finally got my driver's license back."
I slowed to a stop. Ranger pawned me off on Hal. Hal, who the fifth floor referred to as the male version of me, lost his driver's license in a tale of what probably was even harder to believe than something that would happen to me on any given day. "Um, Hal. How did you lose it in the first place?"
Hal kept going, unaware I wasn't following. "I can't help that I ran over a cop car. Damn thing was practically invisible." He turned and looked around. Then he turned again and looked up the stairs. "Oh there you are. I thought I lost you. Anyway," and it was like I hadn't stopped at all. Hal kept moving and I trudged down the stairs, defeated, tired, praying that I'd make it to Rangeman with what seemed like a worse driver than myself helming the wheel.
Hal talked the whole way to Rangeman. Talked while we were in the garage. Talked while we were in the elevator, and talked as we walked onto the fifth floor and Hal took over for Tank.
"Long night?" Tank ruffled my hair and I batted his hand away.
"Don't ask." Hal said, and sat in the chair for his shift on the monitors. "She's not very talkative tonight."
I shrugged my shoulder and gave a half-hearted wave to Hal and Tank as I went back to the elevator and up to the seventh floor. I let myself into Ranger's apartment and decided the only way to forget a night like this was to take a trip into heaven and use the shower gel.
I stripped my clothes off in a flash while I waited for the shower to get nice and steamy. I stood under the water and closed my eyes as steam rose and made it impossible to see. When I was nice and pruney, I turned the shower off and slipped on Ranger's unused robe from the hook on the door.
Ranger waited for me on the edge of the bed. His head was bowed, hands braced behind him. His silence wasn't unusual. It was the manner of his silence that bothered me.
I started to speak and my mouth felt like cotton had been shoved in it. I moved closer to the bed, afraid that if I could speak, it wouldn't be loud enough to hear. I licked my lips, cleared my throat and tried again. "She looked like me."
My words came out flat and even though he didn't answer, I knew it was true. The other women bore a resemblance to me too. Curly hair. Light skin. Fine facial bone structure contorted into pain in their last seconds alive.
"I can take care of myself, you know. I don't need you swooping in like some kind of comic book hero." I stood in front of him, his robe dragging on the carpet, my hands covered from the sleeves. My hands shook from my nerves; the cotton feeling was now in my throat. I swallowed hard. "The police want me to be bait. This psycho needs to be caught."
Ranger leaned forward and slid his hands around my back. He pulled me into him, bringing me between his legs and buried his face in my robe. I chewed my lower lip to keep it from trembling and brought my hands up. I hesitated before I touched him, the feel of his hair between my fingers surreal and almost too intimate to bear. I slid my hands down his neck and shoulders, and bowed my head to his. I stood there, unsure what to do next and never wanting to move. I couldn't admit that I was afraid. More afraid than I'd ever been before.
Ranger slid his hands down to my hips and pushed me away from him. He looked up, eyes dark and intense, sizing me up and making decisions before discussing anything with me. "Why did you stay there after I specifically asked you not to?"
I moved away from him and put a hand on my hip. "Let's not beat this into the ground. I've told you over and over again. It might not be much, but it's my apartment. I've already let you install your best security system in there. What more are you going to ask of me? I already have no privacy as it is. Next you're gonna want to have armed guards on me 24/7 and I feel caged. And angry. And scared." I took a breath and shoved a hand through my hair. "Okay. Are you happy now? I admit it. I'm scared. I'm scared that no matter if I go back there or not, I will be me next. If not now, the next time or the next time or the next…"
Ranger got off the bed and came towards me but I darted out of his reach and pinched my lower lip between my fingers as I thought of the possibility it could've been me. The thought of the first girl's bloodied unrecognizable body made me shiver, and my stomach rolled at the thought of it being me, staring out blankly at Ranger when he found me dead on the floor.
He grabbed for me and I shoved him off. My eyes closed and I covered my eyes with a hand. His hand was warm on my wrist as he pulled me against him and held me. I couldn't ask why this was happening. Maybe I finally bit off more than I could chew.
"Don't think about it, Steph." His hand smoothed away curls from my face and he cupped my chin bringing me eye level to him. I blinked away a tear and he swiped his thumb over it. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you. You are my top priority. My only priority."
He leaned into my forehead and his lips brushed my forehead. He didn't move right away, his lips soft and loving and kissed me gently on the lips before letting go. He sat on the bed and unlaced his boots and kicked them off. Next came his shirt and he peeled it off and threw it on the floor with his pants. He yanked the blankets back from the pillows and he got in.
He propped himself up on his elbow and raised an eyebrow at me. There was a twinkle in his eye, and I knew it was all show. "Are you sleeping with me or on the couch?"
I thought about it for a split second before I shuffled to the 1000 count sheets and sleeps like a dream bed. I left the robe on and slipped in, back to Ranger. He snaked his arm over my hips and his hand pulled me into him. The gentle hum of the refrigerator and steady rise and fall of Ranger's breathing lulled me slightly relaxed. I sank deeper into him and the bed.
"Ranger?"
His hand tightened on my hip. "Yeah, babe?"
I leaned up and kissed him on the lips lightly before turning back around. I closed my eyes and whispered, "I don't tell you this enough but thank you. For everything."
I felt his lips on the back of my head as he murmured, "Anything for you."
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.:End:.
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Original Posting Date: May 31, 2009
Posting Date: December 16, 2011
A/N: Thanks for all the responses! I've got a list of what the readers would like to see and I'll be making my way through them next year.