A/N: We're back! I present to you a bit of a fluffy chapter before to get us back into the swing of things.
Chapter 13
Tank: "Batman has left the nest"
Lester: "Wonder Woman is on the move."
Tank: "Okay Bobby it's go time."
Lester: "Tank targets are on the elevator"
Tank: "Targets have made it to the garage!"
Lester: "GO! GO! GO!"
Bobby: "Targets have escaped"
Tank: "Damn well back to your duties men"
Ranger POV
"That was a close one, Babe."
"I know, do you ever think they're gonna stop trying to bug us every time we go on a date?"
"No but that's their problem." Steph smiled at me and took my hand in hers as I drove us to dinner. Tonight we're celebrating Valentine's Day since we picked up the monitor shifts on the actual day so the men could go out clubbing or something like that.
An hour later I pulled into a Cuban restaurant just outside of Newark. I parked the car and then walked around to open Steph's door for her. I was excited but also nervous for tonight. It wasn't something that I often felt since being in the Rangers and running Rangeman had built a level of confidence in me but tonight was special, tonight I planned to officially make Stephanie Plum mine. I don't know why I was so nervous it's not like she's ever given any indication that she didn't like me but you never know how things will go with Stephanie.
I gave the hostess my name for our reservation to which she responded by standing up straighter and pushing her chest towards me but I had no interest and was annoyed she was so brazen considering I was standing there holding Stephanie's hand. I saw Stephanie roll her eyes so I pulled her closer to me wrapping my arm around her waist so the hostess would get the hint and just show us to our table. She sat us in a booth in the back corner and informed us our waiter would be over soon. I ordered a bottle of wine for the table and both of our entrees since Stephanie was new to Cuban cuisine.
"How did you choose this place?" Steph asked knowing the places I took her often had meaning.
"My family use to eat here every Sunday after church. It's owned by some family friends and some of my sister's use to be waitresses when they were younger."
"I love that. Thank you for sharing it with me."
"Steph." I cut her off so she got a worried look so I reached over and took her hands in mine.
"It's not bad. I just wanted to ask you some things."
"Oh Okay. I thought you were gonna try to talk me into taking the money again."
"We already agreed we would use the money from the capture and invest into buying the old YMCA and turning it into a community center for veterans and I fully support that. What I have to ask is more about us."
"Okay Carlos shoot." The smile returned to her face so I took a deep breath and spit out what's been on my mind."
"Stephanie, Babe, we've been going out for about a month now and I would like to make that official. Would you be my girlfriend?" Her face contorted and I was worried she was gonna say no but then the melodious sound of her laughter met my ears.
"Carlos. You can't be serious. That's the big question you were gonna ask me?"
I was a little dumbfounded so I just nodded.
"Of course I will be your girlfriend but if I'm being honest I thought we've been official for a few weeks now I mean you announced it to the entire company." Now it was my turn to laugh.
"Babe." Stephanie leaned over and kissed me before pulling back and taking a sip of her wine.
"Now that we have that done you said you have a few questions for me?" Always straight to the point.
"Well you've been living at Rangeman for a week now and I'm hoping that you'd maybe consider moving in permanently. I know you like your independence but I want to ensure your safety from future attacks. I mean two break ins in less than a month. Those aren't great odds. And since you are my officially my woman that does come with an added level of risk as well. So what do you say?"
She took another sip of wine and put it down before answering. "Hmm. Well I'm not so crazy about living in the building. I understand your reasoning so I will give it a try but I would like to retain the lease on my current apartment for now in case it doesn't work out. Does that work for you?"
"Yes." I leaned over to kiss her but she stopped me by placing her hands on my chest.
"Can I get a bigger closet though?"
"Babe" I gave her a 1000 watt smile and then finished the kiss.
Stephanie POV
I was sitting at my desk working on the presentation for the new supplier contracts I was giving at the core team meeting this weekend when I heard what sounded like some of the men whispering outside my door.
"It's open so are you coming in or not?" I yelled out.
Lester opened the door and stepped in followed by Bobby and Tank.
"Hey Beautiful. We saw you and Hector bringing in moving boxes this morning."
"Yes, and?"
"And we were wondering how that's going?" Bobby asked.
"What? Me moving into the building?"
Three heads nodded back at me.
"Well for your information it's just a trial run but so far so good. In fact I was thinking about baking some brownies this weekend so…"
"Count us in!" Lester said.
"Now can I get back to my work or fo you have more on your mind?" I asked the three stooges knowing that's not why they had come by.
Tank closed the door then stepped over towards my desk. "Fine you got us. We wanted to know how things were going with you and the bossman" Tank said.
"Men. You know that me and Ranger are keeping our relationship to ourselves."
"Oh come on Beautiful! That's no fun!" Lester whined.
"Whining isn't going to get you anywhere now if you'll excuse me I have a presentation to get back to." I pointed at the door so they would get the hint then I watched three sad faces turn to exit my office. "And that doesn't mean you can go down the hall and harass my boyfriend either" I added just as they were almost out of the office. I gave them a finger wave as I moved to shut the office. I knew that they would be excited with the new information since Hector had told me Carlos wasn't the only one who didn't know we were official.
