I don't own them and I'm not making any money… Also, a bit thanks to haleigh.l for her help editing this chapter, I really appreciate it! Other than that, please enjoy!
What Happens in Vegas
Chapter 12
"Yeah, but now we have to go tell Ranger you got shot at again. Not a good thing."
"You don't think he's going to try to lock me in a safe house do you?"
"Not sure," said Cal, finally speaking up.
"If he does, will you listen?" asked Lester.
I bit my lip and thought for a minute. I hated safe houses and the entire idea of hiding. "I don't know. Probably only if he decided he needed to be in one too."
That just made both of the guys grin. They knew it would never happen.
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Back at Rangeman, Cal, Lester and I headed straight for Ranger's office. I knocked softly on the door and we entered to find him bent over some paperwork.
"Problem?" he asked, probably sensing there had been trouble since my bodyguards and I had turned up in his office.
"I got shot at again."
"At Pino's?"
"Yeah. As we were leaving. But everyone's okay and Joe already got our statements. Please don't try to make me go to a safe house."
That just got me a raised eyebrow.
"Please," I repeated, going around the desk to stand beside Ranger's chair.
He spent a moment in silent communication with Lester and Cal, and after a minute there was a round of nods and the guys left. When we were alone, he pulled me down onto his lap and ran his hands up and down my arms and over my face. I tried to raise my eyebrow at him.
"Just reassuring myself that you're okay," Ranger said into my hair. "I don't really like it when you come in here saying you've been shot at."
"Yeah, but how do I stand on the 'you trying to send me to a safe house' thing?"
"Babe, why do you keep saying 'trying'?"
"Because I won't go quietly or peacefully."
I could feel a laugh deep in his chest before he spoke. "Don't worry; I don't think it's time for a safe house quite yet."
"Good. Because I'm only going when you go."
"Do you really want to be locked in a safe house with me? For who knows how long?" He gave me a low wattage wolf grin and I felt myself go pink. I still couldn't help teasing back
"That sounds like a challenge, Mr. Manoso."
"What would you do if it was, Mrs. Manoso?"
My heart skipped a beat at the name, but I recovered quickly and rolled my eyes. "It's still Ms. Plum to you, and I'd turn the challenge down. It would probably be a trick to get me into the safe house."
I felt another silent laugh before Ranger leaned in and kissed me on the tip of my nose. Did that mean I won? I never win when I start teasing Ranger.
"Yeah, Babe, you win this round. Don't expect me to let it happen too often."
"Deal."
"And since I'm not trying to ship you off to a safe house, can you do me a favor for today?"
"That depends," I said warily.
"Will you stay in the building, just for today? Pino's was full of cops and he still took a shot. It's unlikely he was trying to do more than scare you, but I'd appreciate it if you'd lay low for a bit."
I almost argued automatically, but the fact that Ranger was asking registered before I got the words out. And he was giving me reasons for his request. I guess I could be reasonable also.
"Okay," I said after a minute.
"Thanks, Babe."
"Yeah, but you better call up Rodriguez and have him send some more searches. I'm going to need something to do."
"Consider it done," Ranger said, giving me another quick 'thank you' kiss before I hopped off his lap.
I headed for my usual cubicle. I may not be doing any bounty hunting today, but I was about to do a stakeout. Ranger was having Rodriguez bring me searches and I was going to wait for him to show up. He usually dropped them off when I stepped out, but this time I'd be watching.
Five minutes later, I was spinning circles in my chair and debating the merits of running for a drink and sandwich. I could practically see the break room from my cubicle… I was just about to make a dash when Tank stuck his head through my door.
"I have your searches for you."
"Huh? I thought Rodriguez was bringing them."
"He was, but he ran into me in the hall and asked me to drop them off. Why?"
"I've done a couple thousand searches for him and still have no idea who he is. It drives me nuts."
"Poor Bombshell. I promise he really exists."
"Yeah, yeah."
Tank's only response was to let out a bark of laughter and toss the files on my desk. With a sigh, I got to work on them and before I knew it I was completely immersed in digging up clues and piecing together puzzles.
The shrill ring tone I had assigned to my mother startled me out of my work some time later. Digging the phone from my bag, I debated the merits of answering versus ignoring the call. I hadn't talked to her for a day or so and I still hadn't brought Ranger for dinner. By now I was probably pushing a lifelong ban on dessert. Sighing, I answered the phone.
"Hey, Mom."
"Stephanie Plum, why am I hearing about you being shot at outside of Pino's? And why were you having lunch with Joe Morelli? What about your husband?"
"Mom," I tried to interrupt.
"What will people think of you having lunch with your ex? You should stay home and be a good wife now. Stop bounty hunting and you won't get shot at."
"Mom," I interrupted more loudly this time.
"There's no need to shout. Really, I thought I taught you better phone manners than that."
"You did," I said, not wanting to waste breath arguing. "What was the point of this call?
"I've been getting calls about you all day. You need to come to dinner. And bring Ranger."
"Mom, we have a stalker and are trying to lie low," I tried.
"It's dinner with your family Stephanie. Unless you're locked away somewhere safe, I expect you sitting at the table at six."
She had me there, because I definitely wasn't staying hidden yet. "Fine. But it may be more than just Ranger and I. Some of his men might be with us, acting as body guards." I really hoped I could talk the guys into coming in for dinner. The larger the crowd, the more focused Mom would be on being a proper hostess and the less focused she would be on me.
"Of course," was all she said. Knowing more guests may be coming, she would go into Burg wife hyper-drive, cooking and giving the house and extra cleaning.
We hung up shortly after that, but only with another promise that I was coming to dinner. I stashed my phone back in my bag and then headed off to find Ranger. With any luck, he'd say it was too dangerous for us to go out and we had to stay here… I'd even agree to stay in for a few extra days.
I met Ranger just as he was leaving his office, so I snagged him by the arm and drug him back in.
"Babe?" he asked.
"I just got a call from my mother. She expects us for dinner at six. Please say the stalker situation is too dangerous for us to go out."
"We have to face your mother at some point," Ranger said, wrapping an arm around me and pulling me into a comforting hug.
"Yeah, but I was hoping we could put it off until next year…"
"I know. But we can't, so we might as well get it over with."
"Fine. What time is it?"
I felt Ranger lift his arm from around my waist as he looked at his watch. "About quarter to five."
"I'm going to go start getting ready then," I said with a sigh as I pulled away. "Remember, we have to be there by six."
"I'll be ready."
We both left the office; Ranger to go about whatever he was doing and me to go prepare for dinner. Up in the apartment, I got a shower, gelled my hair and then flopped on the bed in my reverse thinking position. This means sprawled on my stomach so my hair would dry without getting smashed.
Keeping my eyes wide open, I willed myself not to go to sleep. I really needed to think and prepare myself for the interrogation I was sure to get from my mother.
I thought about the dinner I'd had there the other night… we'd already been over the fact that I'd actually gotten married in Vegas, so that would only get cursory attention. I'd sort of hinted that the marriage wasn't going to last, so I was sure that would come up. Val had saved me from much grilling last time, but somehow I was thinking less Plum madness would be better tonight. Mom hadn't said whether or not Val and crew were coming to dinner, so I decided to give my favorite big sister a call.
"Hello, Kloughn residence," she said after a few rings.
"Hey, Val."
"Steph. Is something wrong?" I really needed to call my sister more often.
"No, I was just wondering if you were going to Mom and Dad's for dinner tonight."
"I wasn't planning on it. Albert's sister is in town and we were going to take her and her husband to Rossini's."
"Okay," I said, hoping she'd drop it and let me off the phone.
No such luck though. "Why'd you want to know if we were going to dinner?"
"Umm, Mom called and told me I was coming tonight and bringing Ranger."
"Poor Stephie," Val said, using her annoying childhood nickname for me. "So, were you calling to ask for support or to ask me not to come?"
"Well, I was going to ask you not to come," I said, hoping not to hurt her feelings.
Thankfully, she just laughed. "Not ready to introduce your husband to the insanity which is the Plum family?"
"He's already been introduced. I was just thinking the less insanity tonight the better."
"That's understandable," she said before I heard a loud wail in the background. "Steph, I have to go. Good luck tonight and don't let Mom get under your skin too much."
"I'll try. And thanks Val."
When we hung up, I had a smile on my face. Val's fall from grace had done her a lot of good. She was human now, and I felt like we could relate to one another much better these days. We'd never be best friends, but we could be sisters and not hate it. It felt nice.
I placed my phone on the night stand and went back to thinking about dinner. There were millions of possible scenarios, but all of them consisted of me telling my mother I was getting divorced and her yelling and tippling. Sighing, I checked the clock and saw I was out of thinking time. It was time to finish getting ready, and then face the firing squad.
Ranger came in not much later while I was running around in jeans and a tank top, oscillating between the dresser and closet, looking for something to wear and throwing vetoed items onto the bed.
"Babe, it looks like Macy's exploded in here," Ranger said, snagging me mid-dash back to the dresser.
"Ranger, I don't have time for this," I said wiggling in an attempt to get free. "I need to find something to wear."
"Looks like you found lots of things to wear, but don't like them," he said, directing his eyes to the bed.
"Maybe," I agreed, trying again to get free.
Instead of releasing me, Ranger tightened his hold with one arm while using the other to snag a shirt from the pile on the bed.
"I like this one," he said, holding up a teal long-sleeved shirt.
"So do I, but my mother will probably say the color is too bold or wrong for my skin tone or something." And then I made another bid for freedom, or maybe for the closet to try another sweater…
"Babe," Ranger said, squeezing me tighter and tilting my head up so I'd meet his eyes. "Even if you were dressed perfectly, is there any chance your mother would accept what you have to say tonight?"
I had to think about that one for a minute. "Only if I told her we were living happily ever after, I was already pregnant and I was giving up bounty hunting," I finally conceded.
"Which we're not and, uh, you're not… right?" There was a bit of an apprehensive look on Ranger's face, and I decided it was because of the pregnant comment.
"Not any time soon," I reassured him, giving him a squeeze then finally slipping out of his arms.
Then, cocking my head to the side, I grabbed the teal shirt and slipped it on before pointing him to the bathroom. We had to get a move on if we were going to make it before the roast was ruined.
While Ranger showered, I finished up my makeup and hair and then hightailed it out of the bedroom when I heard the shower shut off. I did not need that temptation before facing down my mother. Heading for the kitchen, I stopped to talk to Rex and drop a few raisins in his dish.
"I'm going to dinner with your Grandma tonight and I'm taking Ranger, but I'll be okay," I reassured Rex. He knew what Mom could be like.
He twitched his whiskers in what I was going to take as sympathy.
"I'm going to have to tell her we're getting a divorce. I was kind of vague when I talked to her before."
Rex just twitched his whiskers again and grabbed a raisin to nibble. I'm not sure I liked the look he was giving me, and I told him.
"Don't look at me like that. I have to tell her. And I know what you're thinking, so stop. Running away with Ranger to a tropical beach somewhere just wouldn't work out…"
"I could make it work," I heard from behind me, even as I felt a pair of hands encircle my waist.
"Ranger!" I gasped, spinning right into his chest. God this is embarrassing. Getting caught talking to my hamster and about running away with him.
"Yeah, Babe?" he asked, allowing a bit of a wolf grin to shine through the smile he was giving me.
"Umm, hey." I'd try to play it off.
"So a tropical beach?" He wasn't letting it go. "You don't think it would work?"
He'd pulled me close, so now it was his arms around my waist and his eyes had gone all dark and chocolately. I couldn't help myself. Like a moth to a flame, I moved in closer and closer until I brushed my lips across the corner of his mouth.
"No," I said in a whisper, pulling back a half an inch.
"Why?"
"I wouldn't let you leave." It slipped out before I could stop myself, and I spent about a millisecond in terror waiting for his reaction, before the terror was obliterated as his lips crashed down on mine.
All thought left my mind. Nothing existed at that moment but Ranger as I fisted my hands in his shirt, trying to get as close a possible. Somewhere, something was telling me I shouldn't be doing this, but I didn't care. I just wanted the kiss to go on forever.
And then it ended.
Ranger pulled his mouth away, but tightened his hold around my waist, burying his face in my hair. We were both gasping for air, and with my face tucked into his neck, I was taking giant breaths of Bulgari and Ranger scented air.
"Sorry, Babe," Ranger said after a long minute.
"Yeah," I agreed. Not really ready yet for full sentences.
"We should get going."
"The roast will be ruined."
"Yeah." Looks like I wasn't the only one with a shorted out brain.
After another minute, Ranger managed to pull away and get us moving towards the door. He grabbed a pair of keys from the sideboard and still leading me by the hand, navigated us onto the elevator and down to the garage where he nodded to the guys who were following us to dinner. We climbed into the Turbo and were parked in front of my parent's house before either of us attempted further speech.
"Should we talk about what happened back at the apartment?" Ranger started.
"Uh, I'm good," I said, ready to deny my little heart out. "You?"
"I'm good too." Looks like Ranger had singed on to the whole denial thing too… "You ready to do this?"
"Nope, but let's get it over with." With that, I opened my door and climbed out and waited for Ranger to come around the car before heading up the walk.
Lifting my eyes to the screen door, I saw Mom and Grandma standing there waiting.
"Stephanie," Mom said, "and Ranger, right?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Well mannered stud muffin," Grandma said. "So, you went and made an honest woman out of my granddaughter?"
Ranger didn't look like he knew how to respond to that, but he didn't need to because Grandma kept talking without waiting for an answer.
"You two have made a pip of a story, but if you ask me, you should have skipped the wedding and just lived in sin. I wanted to live in sin, but your grandfather insisted on doing things the right way. I should find a stud muffin and try it."
We'd migrated into the kitchen by that point and my father glanced up from where he was carving the roast. "Sounds good to me," he mumbled. Looks like he and Grandma were having one of their spats.
Mom looked like she was about to say something, maybe to me or maybe to Grandma, but I wanted to escape just in case. Grabbing Ranger's hand, I drug him over to say hello to Dad.
"Hey Daddy, you and Grandma okay?"
"She's a crazy old bat." I saw Ranger's lip twitch at that and it's the truth, but I felt the need to defend Grandma. Maybe it's because I was afraid she was a glimpse into my future.
"Be nice. She loves life."
Dad was about to respond when we heard Mom yelling from the kitchen. "Stephanie, come here. I need your help with something."
I looked at Dad with fear in my eyes. We both knew Mom didn't need my help and I silently begged him to save me. "Nothin' I can do, Baby Girl," he said, giving me a one armed hug for support before shoving me in the direction of the kitchen.
"Yeah, Mom?" I asked, entering the kitchen.
"She wants to grill you about your bounty hunter husband," Grandma piped up. "I'm here to ask the interesting questions."
Oh God.
"I want to know right now what your plans are with this marriage."
She had to start with that. "We're not planning on staying married," I said, deciding to bite the bullet and get it over with.
"You can't get another divorce," my mother said, sounding scandalized.
"We can't stay married either," I argued.
"And just why not?"
How do I answer this one? Because Ranger doesn't do relationships? Because he's one of my best friends, but all he's interested in past that is sex? I didn't think those would fly.
"Because we didn't mean to get married."
"That doesn't mean you have to get a divorce. You could learn to love one another."
Loving one another wasn't the problem, I thought sadly. "It's not like that," was all I said to mom.
"Don't tell me he's a dud in the sac," Grandma said, sounding a bit shocked.
That wasn't the problem either. I could feel my face get hot and my eyes get a bit big as I stared at her, unsure how to reply. Luckily, or unluckily, mom picked back up with her questioning.
"Stephanie, what am I supposed to tell people. I've been getting calls for days, wanting to know about your marriage. If you don't plan on staying married, why aren't you working on the divorce and why are you still living with Ranger?"
"I told you, we're having problems with a stalker. We decided not to worry about getting a divorce until we have that taken care of, and I'm living with Ranger because it's safer."
Mom started to speak again, but I cut her off. I couldn't take much more.
"Mom, can you please just accept my decision? I'm sorry I'm not staying married and tuning into a nice, Burg housewife, but that's not what I want or what Ranger wants. Now can we eat? Dad's got to be done carving the roast and it'll dry out."
That catalyzed her back into action. She looked like she wanted to comment, but she couldn't risk serving a dry roast. Instead, she grabbed the vegetables and potatoes from the stove and headed for the kitchen.
I was just about to follow her when Grandma grabbed me by the back of my shirt.
"You never answered my question. Does he know how to use that package or what?"
I knew she'd never drop it, so I just nodded once and made for the dinning room. I heard a jubilant 'I knew it' from behind me, but ignored it as I slipped into my seat.
"Babe?" Ranger asked from the seat beside me.
"You don't want to know." I could have sworn I saw fear on his face.
As Grandma slid into the chair across from us and gave him a wink, I knew I saw fear. So Superman has kryptonite, and Ranger has Grandma Mazur…
Mom sat down and we all started passing dishes and bowls. No one spoke until we were through and then Mom leveled her gaze at Ranger. Shit.
"So, Stephanie tells me you two aren't planning on staying married." This was said in a perfectly conversational tone. You'd never know that five minutes ago, she was protesting the very idea.
"Yes, ma'am." Ranger said, looking directly at her, but with the blank face locked in place.
"Frank, what do you think of that?" she asked, clearly looking for an ally.
"They're adults," Dad said, shrugging and going back to his potatoes.
"Yeah, and then they can live in sin," Grandma said.
I saw Ranger quirk his eyebrow a bit at that. Looks like I'd be answering some more questions later tonight.
Dad actually came to the rescue this time, engaging Ranger in a non-divorce related conversation. "You trust that foreign car you drove over here?" he asked with a nod of his head in the general direction of the front of the house where the Turbo was parked.
"I've never had much trouble with Porsches," Ranger said, with only a slight look my way. I knew he was thinking of the dump truck incident. "But I use Bronco's for work."
"Good man," Dad said, and then they were off on the topic of American versus foreign cars. They should be safe for a while.
"So, where's Val?" I asked Mom, pretending I had no idea since it would be a safe topic.
The rest of dinner went by without a hitch. There were no more marriage related questions, Grandma didn't say or do anything too outrageous and Dad actually spoke. All in all, not a bad dinner at the Plum house.
Mom only brought up the divorce issue one more time, and it was when she had me alone in the kitchen to pack up my leftovers. She actually held them hostage for a few minutes trying to get me to promise to work it out with Ranger. I didn't know how to tell her that there really wasn't anything to work out…
Ranger got the all-clear call from the guys outside, and we were free. Encased in the peace full interior of the Turbo, I finally let out a sigh.
"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Ranger asked.
"Not as bad as I was expecting, but she managed to corner me twice."
"Poor, Babe," Ranger said, tousling my curls before starting the car.
"Hey! Watch the hair," I protested.
"Why? We're just going home."
"Yeah, but I don't want you to make a habit of it."
Neither of us noticed how easily we'd just thought of the apartment as home…
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A/N: Thanks so much for reading! Please review, I love getting feedback, so let me know how you feel about where things are going!