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What Happens in Vegas…
Chapter 3
"What the Hell is this?" Lester demanded, holding up his phone as I walked into the main room of the suite.
"Let me see," I said, taking the phone.
In the picture, Ranger and I were standing in front of a man dressed as a priest. Tank was standing to Ranger's right and Lester was to my left. And he was holding my bouquet and wearing a huge pink bow pinned to his shirt.
"Looks like you're my maid of honor," I said shrugging.
"But the whole thing," he said, waving his hand in a large circular motion over the phone.
"It would seem Ranger and I got married," I replied.
"Shit," both he and Bobby said in unison as Bobby grabbed my hand to examine the rings.
"Nice rings though," Bobby said.
"Yeah," I agreed, glancing at them and feeling that suspicious flutter again.
"So what are you going to do?" Lester asked.
"We haven't gotten that far between the hangovers, being in shock, having to pack and you guys interrupting. We're just going to deal with it when we get back to Trenton."
"That's enough gossiping," Tank said, interrupting us. "You two need to go get ready to leave."
"Yes ma'am," Lester said, saluting and turning towards his room.
"Wait!" I exclaimed.
"Yeah," he and Bobby responded.
"Do either of you remember last night?"
"The last thing I remember is doing shots with the blonde I woke up with while watching you and Ranger behave inappropriately on the dance floor. After that, I've got nothing," said Bobby.
"I vaguely remember getting to the club…" said Lester slowly. "But you were all over Ranger in the limo."
"Oh God," I said, hanging my head. I'm never, ever drinking again.
The guys went off to pack and I settled into the couch to zone. I still wasn't feeling that great and I had no idea how much sleep I had actually gotten. So I decided a nap was in order. Problem was, that's when my brain decided to fire up and let me start freaking out a bit more.
What were Ranger and I really going to do? It's not like we could just stay married. We didn't even have that kind of relationship. I wasn't really looking forward to another divorce, but that's probably how this would end. I never thought I'd be divorcing one of my best friends.
That's when I started to wonder what this would do to the friendship relationship Ranger and I did have. It wasn't like there were any bad feelings between us, but once we'd reacted to this could we stay friends? Would things go back to normal? Would we get divorced immediately? If not, would I live in my apartment and he at the Batcave like nothing had happened? That would be weird. And what about Joe?
Shit. Joe. We had broken up recently, but I'm not sure if he got the message that it was for good this time since we hadn't had that final talk yet. He more than likely thought it was another off-again and wasn't going to take my marriage to Ranger well at all. I had a moment of hope that we could keep the entire marriage thing a secret, but in the Burg there are no secrets.
"Hey, Babe. It's time to go," I heard Ranger say.
Opening one eye, I found him standing in front of me, so I held out a hand for him to pull me up off the couch.
"You ready?" he asked.
"Yep. All my stuff's packed and I've checked all the corners and crevices of my room. I was just waiting on you guys."
"Never thought I'd see the day you were waiting on us," he said, giving me a half grin.
"Me either," I said, shooting him a smile also.
After that, we didn't say anything and in a moment I was starting to feel a bit awkward. We were married, we'd apparently slept together again and since we couldn't seem to talk about it, we were trying to act as though things were normal. It wasn't working.
I'd just broken eye contact to stare at the floor when the guys came back into the room carrying their gear.
"Time to go, lovebirds," Bobby sang out. "Go get your stuff."
"Any chance they'll drop this?" I asked Ranger, leaning my head forward to rest on his chest.
"Unlikely," he replied.
"Damn."
After that, Ranger and I went to get our stuff and then Ranger carried a few of my bags as well. He's already a better husband than the Dick, I caught myself thinking then gave myself a mental head smack. That was not a good way to think.
At the airport, we bought tickets and only had to wait about half an hour before our flight was called. I spent the time browsing in the airport gift shop and avoiding the guys. They were starting to make me a bit uncomfortable with their teasing and I could see Ranger getting irritated with them also.
Once we were on the plane, however, we were fine. There were relatively few other passengers, so Tank, Lester and Bobby all immediately passed out and Ranger pulled out some paperwork and started scribbling away. I read the Cosmo I'd picked up in the gift store.
"Babe?" Ranger said about half an hour into the flight.
"Yeah?" I responded, not looking up from my magazine. I was in the middle of an article on the reasons most relationships fail and how to avoid them… too bad I couldn't find 'drunkenly getting married but not meaning it' on the list.
"Want to have some of our talk?"
"Not really," I said, and immediately regretted it when I saw his face go more blank than it had been. "I don't mean I don't want to talk. It's just this isn't going to be a comfortable talk and I'm not fond of flying. I'd rather do this when we're not at 37,000 feet."
"Alright, Babe," he replied, giving me a little nod and smile before going back to his paperwork.
Turning back to my magazine, I was distracted by the light snoring coming from the guys. Before I knew it, I felt a massive yawn split my face. I would love to be able to take a nap, but I can never sleep on planes. Except for the flight out to Vegas. I'd curled into Ranger's side as he did paperwork like he was now and fell right to sleep. That means I can sleep on planes I told myself as I grabbed the blanket I had brought and covered up with it.
I spent about ten minutes flipping this way and that in my seat but couldn't get comfortable. This wasn't going to work. But I was so exhausted.
Giving myself an eye roll, I picked up my blanket and went to stand by Ranger.
"Yeah, Babe?" he asked after a minute of me standing there.
"I can't sleep on planes."
"You slept the whole flight out here on my shoulder."
"Exactly."
"You want to use me as a pillow?"
"Please. I'm tired and the guys are sleeping and I don't think I can take it much more."
"Okay. Sit down and get comfy," he said, moving his legs to the side so I could get into the seat beside him.
Settling myself in, I tried not to look at him since I was well aware of how awkward this was. It may tell you how addicted to sleep I seem to be though. Once I'd settled in, I flipped up the armrest that was between us and curled onto Ranger. I was immediately more comfortable.
"Thanks," I mumbled and then I was out.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
'Boing' I heard from a deep sleep, and then I heard a whispered, "Shhh, you're gonna wake them."
"Too late," I heard and knew it was Ranger from the vibrations I felt from using his chest as a pillow.
"And why is the shutter sound of your phone set on 'boing'?" I heard, this time identifying the voice as Bobby.
"I blame the drunkenness," said Lester.
"Shut up," mumbled Ranger, causing me to tilt my head up to see him.
I was surprised to see he'd been sleeping too. He had reclined his seat and stolen most of my blanket. That was okay though since I was resting mostly on his chest and so I was still under the blanket.
"Huh?" I asked, looking up at him.
"You two were sleeping and you looked so sweet," Lester said, in an attempt at a sugary voice. "We wanted to take a picture to add to the wedding album we're going to make."
"Ungh," was all I replied as I buried my face in Ranger's chest and pulled the blanket over my head.
"Yeah, we're scared," Bobby said laughing, so I assumed Ranger was glaring at them.
I few moments later, I heard retreating footsteps, so I peeked my head out from under the blanket. All clear.
"Sorry about the guys, Babe," he said, wrapping an arm around me.
"It'll be okay," I replied, snuggling into his chest a bit more before remembering that I should feel awkward. And then the awkwardness came on full force.
"Babe?" Ranger asked. He must have felt me tensing up.
"Sorry, I just remembered the whole situation we've got," I said, starting to pull away.
"Wait," he said, tightening his arms around me so I couldn't get up. "I know you don't want to talk yet, but please don't back away from me."
"What?" I asked. That was a very un-Ranger like thing to say.
"We're friends. I don't want to loose that over this."
"Okay," I said, touched that he wouldn't want me out of his life. That in mind, I made a concentrated effort to relax again, but it wasn't really working.
"It's going to be okay," he said after a few minutes as he rubbed circles on my back. "We're still about two hours out of Trenton, so why don't you go back to sleep?"
"Alright," I said, trying to squirm off of him, but he wouldn't let me so I gave up and snuggled into his chest once again.
Within moments I was asleep again. I don't think I'll ever be able to fly without Ranger again.
The next time I woke, it was to Ranger gently poking me in the side.
"Babe, wake up," he was saying as I fluttered my eyelids open.
"Hungh?"
"We're landing in a few minutes and I need to sit my seat back up."
"Oh," I said, moving myself fully into the seat beside him so he could sit up. Then I just sat there.
"You need to buckle up."
"Oh yeah." I'm really not the most with it person when I first wake up.
Rubbing my eyes, I stretched and twisted in my seat to look for the guys. I found them sitting all in one row playing a game of poker and smacking each other upside the head when they thought someone had looked in their cards.
A moment later, a stewardess came out and gave us the 'buckle up, here's how we land' spiel. Landing was my least favorite part and I felt my stomach getting all squishy already. When I felt the plane actually begin to descend, I snapped my eyes shut and held my breath.
"Breath, Babe," I heard a moment later as Ranger took my hand.
Taking a deep breath like he said, I focused on the feeling where our hands were joined. I was trying to sap strength from Ranger and I think it was working… that or my hormones were distracting me with the tingly feeling I had going up my arm. I completely forgot about the plane as the feelings intensified when Ranger started playing with my fingers and then twisting my rings around.
"It's over. You can open you eyes now," he said minutes later.
Peeking first one and then the other open, I looked out the window and saw that we were in fact on the ground and completely stopped. A moment later, I heard the engines shut off and let out a relieved sigh.
Once off the plane, we got our luggage and got out of the airport. I could tell that the crowds were making the guys nervous since they didn't have any weapons on them.
In the parking lot, I saw two shiny, black Broncos and figured they were our rides. My guess was confirmed when the guys headed straight for one and Ranger led me to the other. The guys loaded theirs up and were out of the parking lot before Ranger and I had even gotten into the vehicle.
We got ours loaded and Ranger headed for the drivers seat and I climbed into the passenger seat. Then, instead of starting the car, Ranger just sat there for a moment before turning to me.
"Yes?" I asked when he still didn't speak.
"This feels strange."
"How so?" I asked, although I was pretty sure I knew what he was talking about.
"I don't really know how to explain. We're married. We care about one another. But I'm taking you to your apartment and going to mine. It just feels strange."
"I understand," I admitted. I was just shocked that he was feeling it too.
The entire situation was wreaking havoc on my emotions. I love him. I'm married to him. And I have to act like we're nothing but good friends like always. Because of the denial time and how normal Ranger had been acting, my mind had begun to accept the idea as something we (and by we I mean he) would deal with. My heart on the other hand was getting very confused.
While these thoughts were going through my mind, I registered Ranger firing up the car and heading for my apartment building. We made the drive in silence and when we arrived at my lot, I didn't protest when Ranger wanted to come up since he was carrying my bags.
"Let me just make sure it's safe," he said, motioning for me to stay in the hall with my luggage while he cleared my apartment. He was definitely looking more comfortable now that he had the gun he'd retrieved from a safe in the Bronco.
A few moments later, I got the all clear and grabbed a bag to carry in. Ranger retrieved the others and then leaned against my counter staring at me. Looks like the time had come for the dreaded talk.
"You ready to have that talk?" Ranger asked.
"No. But since I never will be, now's as good as ever." I really had calmed down about the whole idea; I just wasn't looking forward to the whole legal process of dealing with our marriage.
"Where do you want to do this?"
"How about the couch," I suggested.
He just gave me a nod and pushed off from the counter and headed for the living room. Before following him, I reached into my fridge and went to grab two beers before remembering that was what had gotten us into this mess in the first place. Instead, I filled two glasses with water and carried them into the living room and joined Ranger on the couch.
"So," I said. Hadn't we been here before?
"So," Ranger agreed. "How far did we get the last couple of times we tried this?
"I think all we've got so far is we're married, we were both freaked out and our mothers were going to kill us." I said.
"Our mothers," Ranger said giving a resigned sigh. "I think that falls under the first thing we need to deal with. Do we tell anyone?"
"They're going to find out anyway. Lula and Connie will know, because they have super powers at sensing anything I want to keep a secret and will the guys really be able to keep their mouths shut."
"No," Ranger admitted. "In fact, half of Rangeman probably already knows."
"What?!" I asked. I wasn't ready for that. It would hit the Burg vine and my phone would be ringing off the hook. That in mind, I jumped up and switched off the ringer before I forgot.
"Nothing we could do to stop it short of shipping them to a third world country," Ranger said, smiling a little. "And they know how to get out of third world countries pretty well."
"You're going to need to go to dinner with my family," I warned Ranger.
Even if we were to end our marriage immediately, I couldn't see my mother accepting it until she had spoken to both of us. She'd try to convince us to stay married, because after all, who else has a 32 year old daughter divorced twice?
"And my family is going to demand to meet you," Ranger said.
We were both sitting there, not knowing what to say because neither of us seemed to want to bring up the subject of divorce. I actually let out a relieved sigh when Ranger's phone rang.
"Yo," he answered. "Be there in fifteen."
"What's up?" I asked as he hung up.
"There was a break in at a high profile client's office building. The guys weren't back ten minutes when it came in. I have to go take care of this. I'm sorry to put off talking again, would you mind waiting until tomorrow?"
"Nope," I said, giving a mental sigh of relief.
"Thanks, Babe," he said, standing and pulling me up to stand with him. Then his eyes got intense and I felt my mouth go dry. "Since we are married, can I kiss you goodnight?"
My heart screamed yes, but my mind screamed no. I could feel myself getting pulled closer and closer to Ranger and it was getting harder and harder to push back the warm feelings of love I had for him. But I needed to keep them under control or I'd never survive this…
"Yes," I finally whispered.
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A/N: Well, they're back in Trenton! You all are turning me into a review slut, so please review… and tell me how you think everyone is going to react to the news!