Thanks for the continued support on this one and the positive response to the previous chap. I fully believe Mary Lou is and always will be Steph's ride or die in the Burg.
We're gearing up to the end. Let me know what you think Steph's choice will be: stay or go back to being a BEA?
Disclaimer: The Plum Universe belongs to JE. Typos are my bad.
Stephanie's POV
After needing to see for myself that my BFF and her unborn baby were in fact okay, we inevitably drifted off to sleep after we chatted for what felt like hours. It's not uncommon for us to doze off on her bed after a long catch up sesh. Growing up, we had several sleepovers. In fact, I think I've shared a bed with Mare for a lot longer than any one of my relationships. Go figure.
"Momma." Mare's second youngest son, Aaron, awoke us when he climbed into bed beside Mary Lou, jostling us both with the sudden movement.
"Hey, kiddo." Mare said groggily, threading her fingers through his spiky hair as he clung to her.
Seconds later, another one of her sons barged in, getting comfy just below our feet. Smiling at my BFF and the teary look she got when her older two sons also joined in, setting up camp on the floor by the foot of the bed, I took in the whole scene. Mare's the type of loving mom I wished I had growing up. Despite the boys not wanting to always outwardly show their love for their mother, it's undeniable how much they do and always will love her.
"You need a bigger bed." I whispered to my friend now that she's expecting again. Mary Lou and Lenny have always had their kids in groups of two close in age so that they had someone to grow up with. Even before today's scare, it was previously decided that this would be their last Stankovic addition. Lenny got a vasectomy a while back, keeping it hush hush so that the Burg wouldn't meddle in their life. Lord knows the grapevine loves to stir the pot for no reason.
"Already on the list." Mare confirmed with a yawn, falling asleep once again moments later. I, too, yet again followed right after.
I woke up with a start when a familiar large hand closed around my right ankle. Squeezing reassuringly, a familiar scent wafted my way as the owner of the hand leaned down to whisper in my right ear.
"Babe." Was all Ranger had to say for me to automatically relax. Nodding automatically, I whispered to my BFF that I was leaving. In response, all I got was her soft snoring. Mare's out cold.
"I can walk." I protested when Ranger scooped me up in his arms after repositioning me so that the left side of my body was pressed against his big chest.
"Babe." Flashing me his almost smile, he led the way out of the bedroom.
Tiny fingers tangled in my curls as we passed Lenny, David's way of saying goodbye even before his happy squeal.
"Bye." I said to him, catching the glimpse of his bright smile as Ranger kept us moving.
"I'd prefer it if we stayed at Rangeman tonight." Ranger said to me as he deposited my butt on the front passenger seat of the fleet SUV he's driving.
Locking eyes with him, I understood that he's not going to be able to get proper rest if he can't fully let his guard down. He can't do that in my apartment without adequate rest beforehand. "Okay." I nodded my agreement, watching as he rounded the front of the SUV after he buckled my seatbelt.
I once again fell asleep during the drive, only semi regaining consciousness as Ranger scooped me into his arms.
"I can walk." I huffed mostly on principle this time around, even if I was extremely exhausted myself. Ranger's lips pressed a kiss to the top of my head, so I settled further against him. Might as well enjoy the ride, right?
When we crossed the threshold into Ranger's penthouse, I felt like I was coming back home, as weird as that may sound. Asking me if I wanted anything to eat, I shook my head no. Mary Lou and I had something to eat before falling asleep.
After helping me with my bedtime routine, Ranger assisted me so I could slip into his bed. Bobby must have prepped my side of the bed, because there's an intricate set up already waiting for me. Being propped up in Bobby's contraption, I can sleep more or less on my back while avoiding further injuring my shoulder. My left side's already starting to feel the effects of how much I've been compensating and leaning on it these past two days. A change of pace was definitely needed.
I shook my head when Ranger asked if I was in pain, tracking his movements in the darkness as he shed his clothes. As soon as he slipped under his velvety sheets beside me, I'm confident when I say we fell asleep seconds apart.
The next morning, I woke up feeling somewhat refreshed, at least mentally. Ranger too seemed to be more in his usual zone, which I was happy to note. Batman's body and mind take quite the hit when he's in the wind. Coming back in the middle of another one of my chaotic emergency situations hasn't allowed Ranger to take his much needed recharging period.
With Bobby and Ella teaming up, I felt better as the day wore on. In fact, I was having dinner with Ranger sitting around the kitchen island and not feeling at all drained. Okay, so I tried to brave the full day, but ended up having to take a nap in the early afternoon, resulting in a later than usual dinner for us. Today was a good day all things considered, so I can't complain.
Ranger and I were having a nice flirty moment, holding each other's gaze as we held hands after talking for long moments once we finished our meal. To avoid breaking the spell, we've yet to migrate to the living room to continue our chat.
The moment was just right as we both leaned forward to seal the night with a kiss when my phone began buzzing with a slew of incoming message alerts.
Odd.
Saturday was spent with the authorities investigating what went down, with Sunday turning into a clean up once the police gave the greenlight for business to resume as usual. Since I was still receiving emails from corporate, I know that the landlord sealed off the area Gray Eyes and his men sought access to. That way, the store could resume normal business activities ASAP, yet preserve the area that investigators may need additional access to as they move on to prosecute all involved parties. Why I'm suddenly getting inundated with messages from my staff on their first night back when they know I'm out of commission, had me immediately on instant alert.
With several messages incoming nearly at the same time, I opted to read Sarah's first. Being my reliable opener and my right hand on mornings when I can't be in after working the closing shifts, I knew that something big was happening.
Sarah AM: They're ALL going to walk out.
Megan has added you and five others to the chat.
Devon: Steph, we need you! This mofo got us fucked up!
Lindsey: It's BAAAD, Steph. I haven't even gone on my lunch break yet.
Lindsey sent a crying GIF.
And so on, each additional message further highlighted the utter chaos currently going down.
"Babe." Ranger arched an eyebrow when I shot up onto my feet, ready to go put out the metaphorical blazing inferno.
"I need to go in." I knew that unlike Joe, Ranger won't berate me or belittle my choice to step in. Instead, he's coming with. Okay, technically I'm tagging along since he'll be driving, but still.
"I'm so sorry, Steph. I stayed as long as I could, but I couldn't miss my midterms tonight." Sarah sounded utterly defeated as her labored breathing over my phone's speaker mode told me that she was hustling to make it in time to her last class of the night. "The zone manager sent one of the assistants from Camden." Sarah and Jessica, my assistants, have tried their best to ease the growing tension in the staff as the afternoon wore on, with little success.
Due to the schedule conflicts, I always work the closing shifts on Mondays, like most days. If tensions are this high on night one of the final five, they're not going to make it until the end of the week. We've already lost two of the busiests days leading up to Halloween. Oh boy.
"Thanks." I reassured Sarah that she did as much as she could, wished her luck on her next midterm and disconnected the call.
"Stephanie...Babe..." Ranger's tone made me snap my head up from my screen.
"Oh fuck." I cursed, realizing just how crazy the parking lot alone is. There's a line literally out the door! "You can park by the…" I was going to tell him to just pull over by the dumpsters, but Ranger's parking karma helped him snag a spot literally in front of the glass doors. Lucky him, and me by association.
I was free of the seatbelt and sliding off the seat before Ranger rounded the front of his truck. Vince was serving as security tonight, flashing a wide eyed look our way when he saw us approaching.
"I opted to start controlling the flow of foot traffic inside." Vince said the place has been absolutely slammed since he took over for Zip at four. Rangeman offered to be on site for the remainder of the week during business hours at no added cost, something no doubt Ranger ordered and we appreciate.
"Thank you." I squeezed his beefy shoulder as he held the glass door open for us.
I had to take a moment to take it all in, understanding why everyone wanted to drop the towel and walk off. I would too. The line to pay is wrapped around half the store, there's a literal mess everywhere I look and Lindsey and Megan on registers look beyond overwhelmed.
"You're here!" Lindsey nearly cried when she spotted me rounding the counter. "I've needed a pick up for the past three hours. The bills don't fit in the till anymore." She murmured as I hovered behind her.
"Why hasn't there been a pick up?" I asked as I clocked in. If I don't, I won't be able to do virtually anything as my code won't work if I'm off the clock. I'd rather face the consequences later, asking for forgiveness instead of for permission.
"Dude didn't want to." Megan pipped in, asking her next customer to give her a second as she helped me tie an apron around my waist, carefully avoiding my brace strap around my middle. "He doesn't want us to use another register. I need change."
"No one's been zoned." I muttered to myself, scanning the daily binder and noting that it's basically been a free for all. And on the busiest shift ever no less.
"He doesn't want to approve refunds or exchanges, making us tell people to come back tomorrow." Lindsey shared as she waited for the next person in line to set their items on the counter.
"Today's the last day for refunds or exchanges." I decided to take a deep breath, trying to figure out a solution and fast!
"He's just in the back chillin'." Megan shrugged, moving on to the next person in line.
I met Ranger's gaze as he stood at the end of the register area, right next to the overflowing cart full of who knows what. It's anyone's guess if they're all go backs or damaged items or what.
"No." I mouthed, shaking my head. I know what he's thinking, and that would totally be cheating. Having the Merry Men's help was out of the question. No. We can do this. I have faith in my team.
"Yeah." Megan's always been quick to follow my orders, being strong in any position I put her in. So, as my first command I moved Megan from register three to register four to resolve her change issue.
"Lizette, can you come up to the front, please." I called over the walkie, hoping she could hear over the blaring music and loud voices, before I stuffed the walkie talkie in my apron pocket.
"Steph?" Lizette did a double take when she saw me, quickly bouncing back when I assigned her to register five.
"But…" Lindsey tried to protest when I told her to go on her meal break. There'll be plenty for her to do once she's back as there's still nearly three hours before closing.
"Babe." Ranger was asking what he could do to help once I zoned the remainder of my staff. Quickly, I handed him two large rolling baskets and asked him to sort the mountain of shit that's piled up. Hey, if Batman wants to help, why not? Technically, one set of extra hands isn't full on cheating, right?
"The label tells you if it's a child or adult costume. The boys will come and take whatever you sort off your hands. Have the girls walkie them." His lips twitched with the urge to smile, which made me want to kiss him as I finished explaining how he could differentiate between costume themes and ages. Ranger likes my take charge mode it seems. With the knowledge that I don't have to hold myself back anymore, I leaned in and kissed his tempting lips. It was a pretty nice kiss, even if we kept it PG since we had a very captive audience.
Ranger flashed me his full thousand watt smile as I pulled back. An audible female gasp sounded from a woman behind me. Returning Ranger's smile, I made my way towards the break area in the back, trekking through the crowd carefully to avoid bumping into anyone.
"Is that your boyfriend, Steph?" Lizette's voice sounded in my ear as I circumvented the meandering line of people.
"No. That's her situationship." Megan teased, but I ignored their playful teasing.
"He's hot. You go, Steph." Lizette felt the need to add before the chatter stopped.
Or so I thought, until Devon added in his two cents, saying that he thought his muscles were well defined before seeing Ranger's huge biceps stretching his Rangeman tee.
"No, I'm not doing anything." An unfamiliar voice reached my ears, even over the blaring music and laughter, as I reached the curtain leading to the break area.
"Edward?" I asked, flicking my gaze to the special name tag he must have commissioned for himself to boast about his title.
"What?!" He gave me an annoyed look, snapping before he realized I wasn't one of the teens. "Uhm, yeah?" He tried to cover his tracks, but it was too late.
"You can go. I'll take it from here." Extending my hand, I asked him to hand over the store key. He doesn't even have a walkie on him, meaning the girls had to come and get him every time they needed something from him.
"Uh…" He didn't know what to say, so I made it known that he could clock out and leave. We don't need him if he's just going to sit back and relax while all hell breaks loose out on the sales floor. I don't need a body that's just taking up oxygen.
Edward handed me the store key before he made a quick escape, no doubt on his way to rat me out.
Whatever.
I'd just entered the office, getting a quick flashback of the events of that night as I subdued and restrained Gray Eyes, when my cell buzzed in my pocket. This is perhaps the first time I've shown up to work wearing sweats, or mostly baggy clothing for that matter, but I don't care. Fishing my cell from my left pants pocket, I cursed under my breath when I saw it was none other than Andrea, my district manager, calling. Shit.
"What are you doing there?" Andrea's usually soft voice was long gone, her authoritative one in full force. "You should be home, resting after…" Cutting her off, I outlined the issues that were brought up to my attention.
"We can talk about this tomorrow morning." I offered, disconnecting before Andrea could protest.
By the time Lindsey came back from her break, I'd replenished the register Megan was using that was in desperate need of change. I'd also taken over register one and began processing refunds, exchanges and card only sales. With only one mobile arm, I'll worry about cash handling when I close registers later tonight.
"Hi." I greeted the woman who placed two toddler costumes on the counter before me long hours later. "How's your night going?" I asked, noting that she needed an exchange once she told me that she came earlier but was turned away.
"Are you okay?" The woman asked me, her eyes assessing my obvious pinched look. I've done my best to mask my pain from the others, but after hours of being on my feet and constantly moving, I'm agonizing.
"Yeah." I lied, offering my best smile as I processed the transaction.
"Babe." Ranger's breath brushed against the back of my neck, as he hovered behind me. Discretely, he placed two oval shaped pills in my left hand, as well as handed me an ice cold water bottle that I have no idea where he got it from. "Hi, would you like a bag?" Ranger flashed his best smile at the woman, leaving her stunned by such a gorgeous visual as he proceeded to bag her new purchase and hand her a receipt. She was so entranced that she slammed face first into Vince's chest as she exited.
"Thank you." I whispered to him in gratitude, taking both the anti-inflammatory and opioid to help with this fucking hellish pain. Adjusting the top strap that was cutting into my neck, even the tiny movement sent a jolt of hot pain across my shoulder.
You got this, Stephanie. Thirty more minutes before closing. You can do this.
After giving myself a metal pep talk, I moved away from the registers to leave the girls to finish the small line that's left.
"Chris, can you turn off the music and animatronics?" I asked when I found him reorganizing what was previously the unrecognizable home decor section.
"Of course, Steph." He beamed at me, moving off to do as I asked.
"Devin and JC, please let customers know that registers will close in fifteen minutes." Both boys were quick to reply via walkie that they were on it, each taking a side of the store.
"If anyone else comes, can you let them know we're closing in less than fifteen minutes?" I asked Vince, noting that we were miraculously able to service even those lined up outside.
"You got it, Bomber." Vince smiled and assured me he'd lock the doors from the outside right at closing time.
I thanked Vince and did a preliminary walk through to see what else we might need to do for our clean up time after closing to the public. All in all, the boys have the sales area looking decent given how bananas it's been.
As soon as we officially closed and Megan was ringing up the final customer in line, I made my way to the back office to grab the deposit log and bag so I could start on what I already know will be way too much cash to count. I didn't get a chance to do it earlier, plus I didn't want to have to slowly make a pick up from Lindsey's overflowing till with so many people in the store.
"I'll start sweeping." Lindsey offered once we got the all clear from JC that no stragglers were still in the aisles.
"I'm on impulse, blankets and mugs." Megan offered, saying she'd refill any merch that was looking low. That transfer we got from a store with low sales has kept us fully equipped to keep selling at high volumes.
"I'll do lighting and kids horror." Lizette too got to work without needing my direction.
"Babe?" Ranger arched his eyebrow in question, silently asking what else he could do. His almost smile told me he was proud of me, even if he didn't voice it. Because of his help, the overflowing cart is empty.
"Wanna fold T-shirts or flex the toddler section?" Smiling wide, I waited to see what he chose. Batman can do anything and isn't afraid of much, if anything.
Proving me correct, Ranger worked on folding the pile of T-shirts that every night needs to be refolded. He's so good at it that he doesn't even need the folding board to make sure all shirt sizes get folded the same way.
End of day closing of registers and creating the bank deposit, along with all the logging I had to do both on paper and on the software, took me longer than usual since I wasn't able to use my injured arm. Regardless, I got it done just in time for us to clock out and call it a night. Finally!
"Alright, grab your stuff and get ready to clock out." I said to my team as I collected their walkies and took them to charge in the office along with the cash I needed to place in the safe.
By the time I returned to the front of the store, everyone was looking tired and ready to call it a day.
"Congrats." I praised as we clocked out and I set the alarm as we got ready to leave. "We were just shy of fifty grand in sales today. Good job." Smiling, I wished them a good night as we filed out the door.
My team's cheering became louder as I stepped out after flipping the light switch, casting the store in darkness. To my surprise, Woody and Hal were handing each of my kiddos a Shorty's pizza to enjoy in the comfort of their home.
"Thanks, Steph." They said in unison, the delicious smell of pizza helping ease the ending of such a hectic day.
"Wasn't me." I extended my hand to Ranger, because he was for sure behind this nice gesture. Plus, Shorty is always willing to fulfill any of Ranger's requests. I'm sure Shorty himself prepped the pizzas, which will make the food that much yummier.
"Thank you, Mr. Steph." In unison, they all thanked Ranger before making a run for it.
I laughed out loud when I processed what the kiddos called Ranger, catching Vince's grin from the corner of my eye.
"I kinda like the sound of that." I teased Ranger as he opened the passenger door for me. "Mr. Babe, hmm."
"Babe." Ranger gave me what was supposed to be a serious look, but his twitching lips gave him away. He found it amusing too.
"Thank you, Ranger." I sighed against his chest as I pressed my face to his T-shirt covered pecs, remaining still as he helped me buckle my seatbelt.
"You pushed yourself way too much today, Stephanie." Ranger's tone wasn't accusatory. No, he was simply reminding me that I did overexert myself.
"Yeah." I admitted that he was right, still feeling pain despite the minor relief I got after taking the meds. It feels like the hardcore pain reliever barely even touched my shoulder, which is a big indicator for me that I pushed my body way too far tonight.
My left hand naturally migrated over the center console, resting on Ranger's right thigh as he drove us back to Rangeman. Rex was already on his kitchen counter when I woke up this morning and padded into the kitchen with my crazy frizzy hair. Ella helping me style and braid my curls kept me from looking like a curly haired Medusa look alike.
"Uuuuu…" I grimaced when I saw Bobby waiting by the elevator as Ranger swung into his reserved parking spot in the underground garage. "I'm gonna get it, aren't I?" I asked as he cut the ignition.
"Babe." Ranger's barely smile sealed my fate.
"Hey." I gave Bobby a finger wave with my left hand as soon as Ranger helped me out of his truck. My legs hurt so jumping off like I normally would isn't a viable option at the moment.
"How bad is it?" Bobby asked knowingly.
"Not that bad?" I answered with a grimace, hoping that he found my gauze nice and dry when he checked.
"Hmm. I'll be the judge of that." Bobby declared, leading the way up to his infirmary.
"Aye, aye captain." I saluted, tiredly following Bobby into the elevator with Ranger bringing up the rear.
Situationship: an undefined romantic/sexual relationship
Aye, aye captain: means you hear, understand and will obey the order.