Here's the continuation to the previous chap's glimpse a year in the future from where chap 2 left off.
I only saw one reviewer voice their guess for what was hinted at in chap 3. Let me know if any of you figured it out too.
Disclaimer: The Plum universe belongs to JE. The typos are my bad.
Stephanie's POV
The first FTA on our list was Joseph Colombo. He had a long rap sheet even before he got tangled in the drug scene. Colombo hasn't reached high ranking status in the small Stark gang that's gained ground as of late, despite him trying. Thankfully for us, both Colombo's mother and his gang leader are no longer willing to help him clean up his messes. I mean, it's not the first time I've heard of a gang turning their back on one of their own, but it's still noteworthy.
"Hi, Mrs. Colombo." I greeted the woman with gray hair and tired eyes that answered the door after I knocked twice. Technically, the Colombos should have been the poster middle class family with their two kids and white picket fence surrounding their tiddy home. Colombo's sister died a few years ago, which meant his parents did their best to help him out of the hole he'd dug. They'd already lost one child and didn't want to lose the other is my best guess. "I'm Stephanie Plum. We spoke on the phone this morning." Smiling politely, I recapped our phone conversation. I wanted to know that she was still willing to cooperate before we made the trip to the Mill Hill side of town. Thankfully, Mrs. Colombo hasn't had a change of heart.
"He's out back." She said on a sigh, stepping aside to let us inside.
Just like his momma said, we found Joseph Colombo sprawled on the grass in the backyard. With his feet resting on a worn out swing set, and his face covered in partial shadows thanks to the trees in the yard, Joseph is having the time of his life.
"I knew you were coming." He said in a giggling fit, flicking his glassy eyes away from the mostly gray sky above.
It became instantly obvious that he was under the influence. Regardless, I gave him the whole spiel as I reached for my handcuffs.
"Whoa! Your eyes are like so, so blue. How do people even look at you without being blinded?" Again, he let out a series of laughs as his eyes scanned mine. "How do you make them look so shimmery blue?" Colombo asked with obvious curiosity, reaching up to try and grab my right eye. Before he could, I twisted him onto his stomach and straddled his skinny calves. The cuffs were on before Les had a chance to teach him a lesson for trying to pluck my eye out.
"Your eyes are super blue today." Lester agreed, snapping a photo to show me. They were both right, my eyes a deep, deep blue.
"Genetics." I said with a shrug, answering Colombo as we walked back to our fleet SUV.
"Lucky." Colombo said, not putting up a fight as Lester shackled his feet to the floor.
From the corner of my eyes I spotted Mrs. Colombo peering out the front door, watching in silence as we loaded ourselves into the SUV as well.
Fifteen minutes later, Colombo was no longer our problem and we had a capture receipt to trade for a payout. Because Lester wanted to eat, we decided to hold off going to the Bonds office until we had all three capture receipts.
Lester found a parking spot right in front of the restaurant, smiling triumphantly when I mentioned the good parking karma Ranger and the Merry Men seem to have.
While Lester placed his order at the register, I perused the menu poster above us. Seeing the woman making the handmade corn tortillas, I decided on skipping the lunch combos. The tacos are a pretty decent size on their own. I don't want to be so full that I can't run after an FTA if needed. Let's be honest, I'm not that fast of a runner on a good day, so better to be safe than sorry.
"Dos de asada." I held up two fingers when it was my turn to order, specifying that I didn't want any hot sauce. Ramon taught me that if a Latino tells you that something isn't spicy, they're lying and it most definitely is going to be spicy for me. If they say it's a little bit spicy, it's fire. And if they admit that it is spicy, then it's lava! I'm fine with pico and guac.
"Two?!" Lester looked at me in shock, before telling the cashier to give me five tacos. "If you don't finish them, I'll eat 'em." He promised nothing would go to waste.
I ordered a Coke, because the glass bottle one is absolutely heavenly. Lester ordered what to me was a weird combination of flavored waters. Even the cashier gave him a dubious look before flicking her eyes to my stomach. Shrugging her shoulders, she proceeded to mix the odd combo of flavors Lester asked for. As we walked to an empty table near the salsa bar, I looked down at my stomach. I mean it's not the flattest one out there, yet I'm pretty satisfied with having shed my donut pounds.
What the hell?
I'm pretty sure I heard the cashier and the lady making tortillas say something along the lines of pregnancy. Or at least, it sounded like that to me. They were talking too fast for me to really understand everything they were saying in Spanish. Trying to ignore the weird interaction, I focused on my food. We're on a tight schedule after all.
I managed to eat three tacos before feeling full, which meant Lester had two extra ones for himself. By the time we left the restaurant, the lunch rush was mostly done and the women had enough free time to watch us go, both flashing me a knowing smile.
"Do I look fat to you?" I asked my partner as we angled into the SUV to head towards Stark Street to pick up our second high FTA of the day.
"Uhm…" Lester paled, gripping the steering wheel tightly and blatantly avoiding the question.
"Answer the question, Santos." I used my version of a commanding tone, wanting to know if I look pregnant.
"Pretty sure that's not something we're supposed to be looking out for, Beautiful." With a nervous laugh, Lester said that Ranger would kill him slowly if he, or any of the guys, were staring at my body that way. "So the answer is, I don't know." Lester shrugged and quickly added that my uniform fit looks the same as always as his way of cheering me up.
I was lost in thought, wondering if the lingerie I ordered for tonight would even fit. I didn't even get to try anything on before I left the building. Depending on how things go, I'll be cutting it extremely close to my given timeframe. Shit!
We arrived at the beat up apartment building that should have been condemned by the city long ago. Our guy, Morton Moore, lives on the first floor, so I'm hoping we can be in and out. However, his girlfriend lives on the third floor. My research says he'll be at his girlfriend's at this time of day. He's at his apartment usually at night time to make it easier to deliver goods to his clientele.
Lester took the lead on this one since Moore tends to be more on the violet side. If we're unable to nab him, we'll come back with added muscle.
Moore's girlfriend opened the door to our insistent knocks, completely naked.
"We're here for Morton." I said, introducing myself.
"You his baby momma?" Moore's girlfriend gave me the once over, zeroing in on my stomach.
Yo, what the hell!
"No." I said curtly, already bordering on pissed off. Concisely, I told her why we were there.
"Ah, bounty hunter." She nodded, stepping aside. "You sure you not his baby momma, though?" She went on to say that Moore's been hiding from his ex because she is psycho and all the textbook BS.
"No." Not wanting to continue with this useless line of questioning, I pushed my way inside. I could feel Lester bringing up the rear, covering my back.
I made my way through the small apartment, making a beeline for the bedroom when the rest of the unit was cleared. Morton was sprawled on his front, taking up the majority of the bed and as equally naked as his girlfriend.
"Morton." I tapped his shoulder as I got one cuff closed on his right wrist, giving him the usual spiel while he was still groggy enough to hopefully follow along.
"Hi, baby." Morton flashed me a wide smile, flashing the bling he embedded on his not so flashy natural smile. "I've missed you, Christine."
Morton tried to lean forward to kiss me, and all hell broke loose. His girlfriend is not named Christine. Whoops!
"You son of a bitch!" Georgina, his girlfriend, flew into a rage. First, she focused on Morton, smacking him while I tried to cuff his other wrist while he tried to scurry away from the flurry of blows. Then, she turned the hot rage towards me. "You lying skank!"
Avoiding her smaking hands was difficult, especially as I was still trying to cuff Morton before he tried to flee. Again.
"He's confusing me with someone else." I huffed, taking a partial smack to the face as Lester wrapped his arms around Georgina's middle and pulled her off of us. I'm sure he took some photos or a video to show the others, hence the slight reaction delay. Ugh.
"Georgina, babe, Christine here means nothing." Morton muttered, trying to smooth out the situation, but making it so much worse.
"I'm not Christine." I gritted out, hauling him off the bed and onto his feet. I was going to be charitable and let him put on some clothes. Not anymore. He can go to the TPD in his birthday suit.
"You're not?" Morton cocked his head to the side and then tried to rear back to get a good look at me. "Damn, guess not. Christine has these big knockers and… oww!" To get him to shut up I may or may not have let him fall face first onto the scratchy wooden floor. Oops.
"You motherfucker!" Georgina tried to squirm out of Lester's hold, but was unsuccessful. Obviously, she was no match for a Merry Man.
I hauled Morton back up and began guiding him out of the bedroom.
"We're through!" She shouted as we moved through the messy living room.
"Going with you sounds pretty good right now." Morton chuckled, saying he needed a mini vacation while Georgina cooled down. "She always forgives me." He said nonchalantly as we made it out into the hall. "So, you single?" Morton asked hopefully, showcasing how out of his mind he is.
Surprisingly, no one batted an eye as we descended down the unstable stairs and spilled onto the sidewalk. Guess Stark Street residents have seen far worse things than Morton's tiny, hairy bits.
Not wanting to transfer bare ass cooties to our spotless backseat, I used a fresh T-shirt we had in the back for emergencies. Once Morton sat on the shirt, I quickly restrained his feet using the floor shackles. I'm surprised that all in all this has been a smooth capture.
Lester trotted down the front steps, a big grin tugging on the corner of his mouth as he rounded the front of our SUV.
"Was she still pissed?" Morton asked once we buckled ourselves.
"See for yourself." Lester said, humor lacing his tone.
We all looked to our right just in time to see Georgina fill the open doorway, still naked but holding a kitchen knife in her right hand. She made a gesture of slicing her neck, then pointed at Morton with the knife as Lester pulled away from the curb.
"I'm going to say yes." I said, wondering how many times he's messed around while technically being in a relationship.
"She'll get over it." Morton told us, but his tone didn't match his confident declaration.
Something happened between the time we delivered Colombo and when we returned to the TPD with Morton. It was utter chaos, delaying us considerably. We had to wait a long time before the dock lieutenant took Morton off our hands. Feeling pity after all, I donned the Rangeman T-shirt over him to provide some modesty. The tee fit his wiry frame like a dress, so it did the job.
"You still wanna try to get the last one on our list?" Lester asked once we finally left the TPD. We were delayed so long that the control room called twice to make sure we were okay and not in need of assistance.
"Yeah." Checking the time, I gauged if it was possible after all. We'd be cutting it extremely close, but I can always let Ranger know if I'm going to be a few minutes late. I'm sure Batman won't go postal over a few minutes delay, though I'll try my best to be back at Rangeman on time. "Mooner's Sci-Fi marathon should be done by now. He should be a quick capture." Plus, I can always bribe him with some goodies if need be.
We got to Mooner's place in a jiffy, and sure enough his scheduled programming was over. He was vegging on the couch channel surfing.
"Hey, Dudette!" He greeted me enthusiastically, grinning wide. "It's been a long time." His reddened eyes squinted with how big he was smiling. "The last time the lady who came for me was high key scary. She looked like the devil with all that red leather."
"That sounds just like Joyce." I nodded.
For a while, Vinnie was giving Joyce the low bonds. After a few months either she found a prey to sink her talons into or Harry the Hammer threatened Vinnie for losing so much profit on the small bonds that should be quick and easy captures. Joyce isn't that good as a bounty hunter. She tends to do well with most of the men, but not the women or psychos.
"I'm totally going with you, Dudette, but let me make myself a bite to eat."
Knowing that Mooner doesn't have much aside from junk food and lots of THC infused products in his home, I made him an offer he couldn't refuse in his current state of the munchies.
"From the one spot?" Mooner was immediately on board with making a quick stop at a certain burger spot that is known for their cheese fries.
"Yes." Reaching for my cell, I dialed the burger joint to place a to go order.
"And a kiddie cheeseburger. Plain." Mooner reminded me as he followed us out of his home.
Because he is pretty harmless, I didn't cuff Mooner's hands. I did, however, secure his feet to the floor shackles as I apologized. Mooner was cool with the set up, since he'd get to munch on some food while we drove to the TPD.
Lester idled at the curb in front of the restaurant while I went in to pick up my order. Luckily, it was ready despite the bustling small lobby.
"Thank you. You're the best, Dudette." Mooner was extremely grateful for his food, promising to not make a mess.
Just two blocks after he merged into traffic, Lester visibly and audibly gagged.
"You okay?" I asked my partner as Lester desperately powered down all the windows.
"That smells gross!" Lester protested in between his sudden bout of nausea, paling profusely.
I didn't smell anything other than a greasy burger and cheesy fries, yet still offered to drive. He's going to throw up all over himself if he doesn't pull over.
"Dude, you having like sympathy preggo symptoms or what?" Mooner blurted out in between chomping on his food, going on about some medical show he saw recently.
"What?!" I screeched, being this the third instance today alone that someone insinuates that I am pregnant.
Have I gained so much weight lately?! Batman hasn't said anything and our sexy time is as good as ever, so…
The screeching of tires redirected my attention away from the backseat, watching just in time as a modified truck headed straight for us, driving the wrong way. Lester turned the wheel, abruptly trying to avoid a head on collision even as everything he ate for lunch resurfaced.
Lester's maneuvers weren't enough, the truck hitting the passenger front side with so much force I watched as our SUV went through the median on Broad Street, onto oncoming traffic, before the airbags deployed. Unable to see anything and too stunned from the hit, a loud crashing sound told me we'd hit something else.
I quickly realized we didn't collide with another vehicle as my stomach dropped with the free fall. A loud splashing sound confirmed that we were in the lake just as cold water began seeping inside, shocking my whole system all at once.
Despite being stunned, I knew I had to act before it was too late.
S&R
Ranger's POV
Tank and I returned to Rangeman an hour before I was supposed to meet Babe on seven. I know she's voiced that she doesn't need a fancy celebration, yet I want us to have a special night together on our anniversary. It's the least I could do. Babe deserves to be celebrated, something I do often already, so there's no way I'd let our first marriage anniversary pass silently.
I worked on some paperwork for about half an hour, before heading up to the sixth floor to pick up the package Ella's holding for me.
"What is that?" I asked, easily catching Ella trying to hide a mid-sized box from my view. Her moves were quick, but I still saw Stephanie's name on the label.
"Not yours." Ella gave me a smile, handing me my package and shooing me out of her space.
Knowing that Babe has a surprise of her own means that tonight will be extra enjoyable for us both.
I'd just unlocked the front door when my phone buzzed with an incoming call. I was expecting it to be Babe calling to tell me that she was running late, which I anticipated in the timeframe I gave her this morning. Technically, we can leave as late as seven and still make it to my surprise. I wanted to give Babe ample time in case she wanted to spend a long time getting ready. With Babe, it can be hours or a few minutes. It just depends on her mood.
Seeing that the call was coming from inside the building, the fifth floor to be exact, had my heart immediately racing.
"Report." I ground out the order, clenching my teeth as my heart nearly beat out of my chest.
"Sensors detected a collision on fleet vehicle number zero twelve." Binkie informed from his position on monitors.
"How is Stephanie?" I asked, already hauling ass downstairs to the underground garage.
"We haven't been able to get a hold of either Bomber or Santos." Binkie's small pause had me nearly losing my mind. "The scanner's picking up multiple calls to 9-1-1 reporting a vehicle striking the guardrail on South Broad after being hit by a truck, and falling into Gropp's Lake."
I had reached the stairwell exit on the underground level by the time Binkie gave me all the information he had, saying that he'd already dispatched nearby patrols to the scene.
As I drove like a maniac, I prayed that everyone was okay. It would pain Babe a hundred times more if someone else is hurt. Feeling like I couldn't breathe, I yanked at my tie until I loosened it enough to stop constricting my breathing. Popping the top two buttons of my shirt allowed my lungs to get more air during my near hyperventilation.
Traffic was at a standstill for blocks away from the scene of the accident. Annoyed, I didn't want to waste any more time than I already had. It's already taken me twice as long to make the drive, and I'm still not at my destination. At the first opportunity, I maneuvered the Turbo to the right, parking at the curb in a no parking zone.
I hit the sidewalk at a flat out run, hauling ass to make it to Babe's side. I could hear sirens in the distance as I kept moving, so I ran faster. When I was a block away, I easily spotted one of Rangeman's fleet SUVs.
Zip was the closest to the perimeter the cops were trying to cordon off. Knowing me, he immediately gave me the rundown.
"Truck was driving erratically on Route 195. Cruiser attempted to pull the driver over, but he sped off instead, taking the exit at high speeds. Witnesses already gave their statements to one of the cops, even though the cruiser's dash camera caught the accident. Our SUV swerved to avoid a head-on collision, but the truck was coming in too hot." Zip nodded to the lake below, my heart hammering under my ribs.
For a moment I was transported back to when Babe was thrown off a bridge into the Delaware. Taking a deep breath, I did my best to recenter myself and tune back in to Zip's report.
"First responders arrived at the scene quickly, thankfully." Knowing what I was going to ask, Zip put me out of my misery. "They were taken to Capital Health." Zip said that he didn't know any more details, answering before I could even form the question. "Bobby's on his way there as we speak."
To avoid wasting time, I traded him the keys to the Turbo for his fleet SUV. Without wasting another second, I got behind the wheel, not even daring to glance at the water below, and racing towards the hospital.
As soon as I arrived, even before I found a parking spot, I texted Bobby. He didn't answer me, which led me to believe he was most likely deep in the bowels of the hospital where cell reception can be hit or miss.
The nurse at the ER triage station looked at me expectantly as I breezed towards her. Expeditiously, I told her I was here for my wife and cousin. I was told since they were currently in the trauma bays, that I had to sit in the waiting room. I felt the air in my lungs rush out with the news, a horrific scene playing in my mind.
I was too wound up to sit down, so I resorted to pacing until I was given a warning by the staff. Instead, I stood by the corner near the window, waiting.
As I bore the insufferable wait, a slew of incoming messages gave me some updates from the scene. From what has been gathered so far, witnesses report seeing a curly haired woman repeatedly diving in the murky water. The SUV took in water fast, inevitably flipping over. Knowing that Babe was mobile after the accident and drop gave me some mild peace of mind.
By the time Bobby finally replied and I was allowed to Babe's bedside, I was ready to lose my mind with worry. One of the things that led me to realize how much I felt for Babe early on was feeling like I was leaving a part of myself behind every time I had to leave Trenton.
Nausea hit me full force when I reached the assigned bed, only to find the space glaringly empty. Before I demanded to know where my wife was, the right side curtain was yanked back.
"Dudette was taken for some like SAT scan." A man said to me. He looked familiar, yet in my agitated state it took me a moment to place him: Mooner.
"CT." Another familiar voice corrected from the other side of the space.
It was my turn to yank the curtain, finding Santos looking worse for wear. He's going to hate the bruising and cuts on what he calls his pretty boy face.
"I tried to avoid the collision, but couldn't." Santos sounded dejected, as if he failed, is not a normal occurrence. He's the type that likes to live by the motto of 'everything has a solution except death', so his current somber tone was alarming. "I'm sorry, Boss. This one was totally my fault."
"Santos." I shook my head, telling him that I didn't care about the car. The three of them getting to live to tell the tale is what's important. Down time to heal is better than the alternative.
"Babe." I finally felt like I could breathe properly, immediately knowing that she was back because the tingling on the back of my neck went off the charts from one second to the next even before I spotted her.
"Ranger." Her weak smile and sky blue eyes focused on me as the staff returned the bed to its regular position. I waited long enough for the brakes to be engaged before I was at her side. "It wasn't really our fault." My wife told me weakly.
"Babe." I told her the same thing I recently told my cousin. They're alive and that's all that matters. We'll deal with the rest in due time.
Bobby filled me in before the medical staff could, giving me a quick rundown. Babe was the closests to the impact site, which meant extra testing after she complained of abdominal pain. The doctor wants to rule out a GI bleed before she's discharged. At the moment, it's looking like Santos and Babe will be kept overnight for observation. Mooner's injuries are minor and is being discharged. Cal and Hal will deliver him to the TPD and make sure he's rebonded swiftly so that he can rest at home.
"Hope your sympathy preggo symptoms clear up, Dude." Mooner said to Lester as the nurse wheeled him out to the waiting room where Cal and Hal were waiting.
Immediately, my eyes flicked to Babe's abdomen before flicking back up to her face. Is she…
Stephanie rolled her eyes, groaning slightly when the move didn't suit her battered body, before declaring loudly: "I am not pregnant. Jeez!" With a huff, Babe pointed out that the hospital can confirm since they did a pregnancy test before running any imaging tests and administering pain medication intravenously. "I'd tell you if I was." She whispered to me, using her peeking forefinger from the temporary cast on her right arm to point at me so no one else could hear. I nodded my understanding, carefully kissing her forehead right next to the large gash there.
"Yo!" Bobby asked Lester if he got a certain someone pregnant. My cousin's face instantly turned bright red, outing him even if he didn't want to admit his secret love.
"You got Marry Anne pregnant!" Babe gasped in shock, glancing sideways at Lester's already guilty looking expression.
"What? What do you mean?" Santos tried to deny what he thought was a top secret relationship with Mary Anne. They haven't necessarily been super discrete. The shift happened a few months after the cake incident, and it didn't take long for everyone at Rangeman to pick up on the change.
"It's so obvious." Babe broke the news to Santos, with Bobby offering confirmation.
"Says you. Not like you and Ranger were covert." Lester gave us a pointed look, trying to get the heat off himself.
"So?" Babe was the one to prod, wanting to know for sure if my cousin's going to be a father.
"I don't know." As soon as Santos said that they've been careful, Babe cut him off. None of us want to know any details of Santos and his bedroom activities.
Thankfully, despite the horrific accident, Babe's quick thinking and reaction helping both Santos and Mooner out of the sinking SUV prevented a tragedy, even if all that exertion meant extra recovery time for her. Of course, I made sure to spoil her in her down time to keep her from getting too antsy. Babe needs constant stimulation to keep her from being bored out of her mind, which said boredom can have catastrophic consequences if I do say so myself.
And yes, it wasn't long after the accident that we learned Mary Anne was indeed pregnant… with a Santos baby no less. Life as we know it will go through quite a shake up once a Santos/Molnar baby comes into our Rangeman world. We'll be ready to help the expecting parents tackle this new challenge. Who knows, perhaps he or she will have a cousin sometime down the road…
I'm currently taking a class, and studying, for a very important three part exam relating to my field. I had shelved a lot of my plans when I got sick, and I'm slowly starting to get back to everything. I'm still working on updating pending stories, but it may be a while longer for some as I have a strict time window of when I can take said exams (there's no testing during the tax season).