Epilogue/Prologue

The earth moved.

Wait. I just woke up. I hope I didn't pass out only to come to and realize I missed a Ranger-induced doomsday orgasm.

There! It just moved again. What the…?

"Steph?" a hurried deep voice rumbled.

My eyes flew open. "Damn it Tank! What did I tell you about shaking me awake?" In a sudden rush I remembered why I had been out cold. Ranger and Bobby with guns at their side, then shots fired.

Shit! I tried to spring to my feet, but Tank was so close we just ended up bumping heads. "Ouch!"

Giving Tank a good shove, I toppled him over. Now I could spring to my feet. I started in the direction where Ranger and Bobby had been, but stopped when I didn't seem them. Scanning the parking lot franticly, I ran back and forth without direction, like a chicken with its head cut off.

Barely registering Tank yelling my name behind me, I started down the street. They had to be somewhere.

"Stephanie. Stephanie" I felt Tank latch onto my arm and bring me to a sudden halt.

"TANK!" I was becoming hysterical. "I HAVE TO FIND THEM!"

Just then, I heard a loud crack. Before I could blink, Tank had me on the ground with his body completely covering mine.

Two more cracks in rapid succession. It wasn’t lightning. It was gunfire.

"Tank, what the fuck…"

He didn't answer. Lifting me up slightly, he literally dragged me behind a car parked by the curb, propping my back against it. I felt like a rag doll.

"It's never dull with you around, Bombshell." We were sitting behind a car with someone shooting at us, and he picked this moment to make a commentary. I was sooo not in the mood.

Tank starting working at his Kevlar vest. In a flash he had it off and handed it to me. "Put it on," he ordered, then moved toward the hood of the car to try and peek over it.

Widening my eyes, I said in a screech, "Tank! I can't take your vest! Just give me a gun."

"Do it," he commanded in a voice that implied it wasn't up for discussion. To my surprise, he reached down to his boots and came up with a small revolver and handed it to me butt first. I grabbed at the gun while fastening the last of the Kevlar adjustments. Even with them all pulled tight as possible it was obvious this vest was much too big.

"Listen up, Bombshell Bitch Bounty Hunter," someone yelled. I got the feeling he was talking to me. Who was that? "Come out so I can just kill you now." The voice echoed down the street. I couldn't tell what direction it was coming from.

Tank was looking over the hood of the car again. "We need to get back to the Bronco. Stay down and follow me. Don't shoot at anything unless you have a clear shot and you know what you're shooting at. Come on."

He pushed off the car, started out in a crouched scurry across the front yard behind us, and headed toward some bushes next to the house.

Following close behind I almost peed my pants when I heard the cracking sound again. I would swear I felt something zing over my head. Shit.

Tank must have noticed it too because, within a split second, he had grabbed me, threw me to the ground, fell on top of me, and rolled us up against the house behind some bushes.

"Stay down," he barked. Like I had a choice with him on top of me. He came by the name "Tank" for a reason. Besides, I was latched onto him.

Tank moved to get up and I tightened my arms around his chest, which wasn't easy to do since one of my hands held a gun, but I wasn't letting go. Consider me a human leech. He looked down to see, I'm sure, the panic in my face. A wide grin broke out on his. "Never thought I'd get the chance to have you under me, Bombshell." He's insane.

I watched, amazed, as his look turned soft. "Steph, it's ok. Let go. We need to get up." I didn't move.

At that moment we heard yelling out in the street. Tank pushed up with his arms to try and see over the bushes, taking me up with him in the process. Good lord! This man just did a push up with me plastered to him.

He quickly, but gently, lowered us both down to the ground. "Lay still and be quiet," he whispered. I hadn't moved or said a word. I was pretty certain that wasn't going to change anytime in the next few minutes. Being the badass bounty hunter that I am, I closed my eyes and hugged him tighter.

"You held onto the gun. Good job." I couldn't see his face but I could tell he wasn't teasing. I think I started to cry.

"Let go, Steph!" he commanded in a hoarse whisper. I did as he said. "Legs too!" What? My eyes flew open. Shit.

Unwrapping my legs from around Tank’s waist, he pushed himself up on his hands and knees, then finally settled into a crouched position.

Hearing the rustle of grass, I realized someone was coming toward us. Without warning or even hesitation, Tank launched himself up and over the short bushes. I heard two loud "umf"s as bodies hit the ground. They were right on the other side of the bushes. Trying to peek through the bottom of the bushes, all I could see were two pairs of feet rolling around. There were more grunts and groans, then the distinct sound of something hard, hitting flesh. Oh, I bet that hurt…it’s going to leave a mark.

In the distance, the piercing sound of police sirens wailed. I got to my knees and looked over the bushes. Tank was lying on the grass, motionless. Whoever Tank had tackled was desperately trying to get something out from underneath Tank.

Not thinking, I stood and pointed the gun Tank had given me, straight at the frantic man. "Freeze!" I screamed. He jumped and turned to face me.

Realizing I was now staring down Charlie Santoni, my heart leapt into my throat.

"There you are you stupid bitch…" he trailed off as he started to tug at the something Tank had landed on.

Just then a blue and white skidded to a stop at the front of the house. Santoni took off running.

Oh no, he’s not getting away. I tried to jump the bushes, but my foot got caught up, and I came down, twisting my ankle, sprawled on top of Tank.

"Ughhhh," came from Tank in a rush of exhaled air.

Followed by my, "Owww!" Guess he’s alive. Thank god.

"Bombshell?" Tank sounded a little dazed. My only response was a grunt. "So, you like being on top, too?"

I rolled my eyes. "Good god… you’re an ape," I accused as I rolled off, giving him a nudge with my elbow in the process.

Tank softly laughed as he flipped over on his back and threw his arms and legs wide. If there were snow, I would swear he was going to make a snow angel.

That’s when I spotted what Tank had landed on. A rifle.

"He get away?" All I could do was groan. "I’ll take that as a yes."

"I tried, but that damn bush had other ideas," I whined while studying my ankle.

Eddie ran up to us, gun drawn. "What the hell is going on Steph? You two ok?" Eddie was my second best friend in the world. Even though he was married to my cousin, Shirley the whiner.

Looking up at Eddie, I observed that more people had joined our little party. Swell. My mother probably already had the story and was ironing the toilet paper.

I winced when hands touched my ankle. Staring wide-eyed, I watched as Bobby took my shoe off and examined my now swollen, purple ankle.

"Wha.." I started but was cut off.

"What happened, Beautiful?" asked Lester. Where did he come from?

"Lester was back at your place, Babe." I jumped at the sound of Ranger’s voice behind me. He gently laid his hands on my shoulders.

Damn ESP. "You and Tank were supposed to stay there too, as long as you were unhurt."

"You passed out, Babe." Now I remember! Bobby and Ranger were facing off in the parking lot. They both fell to the ground. I passed out.

Since both Bobby and Ranger had their hands on me, they both felt me tense as I remembered why I had raced outside. Then I felt both of them tense. Great.

"It's fine," I whined as I tried to get my foot away from Bobby.

Bobby looked at me. "Good news is it's not broken. But you need to get this ankle elevated. We need to ice and wrap it soon."

Ranger nodded and I felt him shift as if he were going to pick me up.

"STOP!" Everyone stood motionless and stared at me. "I don't need to be carried. I can walk…err, hobble… back to my place." I heard Ranger snort behind me. "I mean it!"

"I'll go get the Bronco." Ahh, Lester, the voice of reason.

"Thanks, Lester." I gave a weak smile. He winked at me and headed off.

Struggling to get out of the oversized Kevlar vest, I started to wiggle around. Ranger took over and freed me in only 2 simple steps. Isn’t he just the handy man to have around?

Letting out a huge sigh, I leaned back into Ranger. Tank was up and talking with Eddie and some other cops, rifle in hand.

Ranger and Bobby just knelt by me. No one said anything. Isn't this cozy? Hey, how come Ranger and Bobby aren’t growling at each other? Hmmmm, something to ask about later.

Tank came over to our little threesome and I had to gasp. I hadn’t really looked before, but his lip was split, jaw bruised and bloody, and his shirt was torn with obvious scrapes and cuts underneath.

The shock must have showed on my face. "Don’t worry Bombshell, it’s just a few scratches." He gave me his own 200-watt smile. Bending, he picked up the gun I had dropped when I fell, and placed it back in it’s ankle holster.

Scratch? His shirt was torn, skin scraped and bleeding. I could also make out the imprint of a gun where it dug into his chest.

Shrugging, he handed a cell phone to Ranger. "This is yours?"

Ranger nodded and took the phone. I had forgotten I even had it with me, much less that I had lost it. Just then Lester pulled up.

After assuring everyone that neither Tank nor I needed to go to the hospital, my start for the Bronco was interrupted when I felt myself being lifted off the ground.

I opened my mouth to yell at Ranger, but he started speaking before I could get anything out.

"Too bad." I snapped my mouth closed and let him carry me the hundred yards. Choose your battles wisely, Stephanie, I reminded myself.

Ranger settled me in the back while Lester climbed out of the front. "Tank, why don’t you go back with them and I’ll secure Steph’s place. Let Bobby get you cleaned up. I’ll head back in the Mercedes when I’m through," Lester said and then slapped Tank on the shoulder and headed back to my place.

"Where are we going?" I seemed to be the only one unaware of what was going on, as usual. Here I thought we were headed to my apartment.

Bobby settled in behind the wheel, Tank lowered himself into the front passenger’s seat, and Ranger seated himself next to me.

"My place, Babe."

The Switch - Chapter 1

"Babe," Ranger whispered softly. He brushed some hair from my neck, and then placed his soft warm lips on me. "We’re here. Time to wake up."

Lifting my head from Ranger’s chest where it had been resting, I looked up into his smooth dark eyes and smiled. He smiled back, and it reached his eyes, which made him look damn sexy.

Still whispering he asked, "Can I carry you in?" Feeling confused for just a moment, I remembered why he had asked as the throbbing pain in my ankle returned, and nodded my head in agreement.

As Ranger lifted me from the backseat, I scanned the area and didn’t see Tank or Bobby. Shrugging that off, I focused my attention to the house. It was an all brick two-story home that looked like it stretched further back onto the property.

That’s about all I could see before Ranger had me in the front door. We entered a large foyer, with a front room to the right and kitchen to the left.

Taking me into the front room, Ranger placed me on the couch and propped my foot up with a pillow.

"I’m going to get some ice for that. Don’t move. Bobby will be back to wrap it up." I must have given him a questioning look because he stopped and looked at me. "He’s the one with medical training." I guess that’s all of an answer I was getting because he turned and left.

While Ranger was busy, I studied the room. It was tastefully done is modest neutral colors. There wasn’t much furniture, but the couch I was on sure was comfy.

My thoughts were broken when Bobby appeared in the room. He knelt down by my feet and opened a duffle he had carried in. "Ice?" he asked.

Well, I could do the one word thing too. "Ranger." Bobby nodded once. I tried my best not to wince as he examined and wrapped my foot and ankle.

Talking just might take my mind off of it. "Umm..Bobby?"

"Yeah?" He didn’t look at me.

"We need to talk." His shoulders visibly sagged.

"I know we do. Now might not be the best time," he suggested.

"When would be the best time?" I was getting a little pissed. This time he audibly sighed.

When he looked at me, I saw the sadness and pain in his eyes.

"You should have told me about her," I said softly.

"I was going to, the night of our…date. I planned on it, but then you got there and…I don’t know, everything was so great. I didn’t want to break the mood. You’re the first woman since Monica," he paused. I could see the pain in his face when he said her name. "The first person since the accident…first woman… since the accident that has come anywhere close to making me feel…" Again he trailed off. He sat back on his heels and ran his hand over his short, stubbly, military like hair cut, trying to gather his thoughts.

"Monica was very special to me." He let out a sigh. I could tell he was struggling, but he needed to get through this himself. "You’re the first woman to come along and uncover those feelings…the ones I thought I would never feel again." He gave a short laugh. "And you weren’t even trying."

He moved to kneel directly in front of me. He took both my hands in his. "Steph, I’ve thought a lot about our evening together. I think, in that one night, I was able to feel all those emotions again. I believe that when I had to say good-bye to you, I said good-bye to Monica also. Not only do I owe you for giving me that one date, but also I owe you for helping me let go of the past."

Raising my hand to his face, I placed it on his cheek. "You could have told me."

Bobby closed his eyes and brought his hand up to cover mine. "I know that now." He opened his eyes and said, "I’m sorry."

I smiled softly as Bobby moved my hand from his cheek to his mouth, and placed a light kiss in my palm.

Pulling my hand away I thought, it’s now or never.

"Bobby…" I had to really be careful here. "You and Ranger need to talk about Monica." So much for being delicate.

Immediately his face went blank. Wonderful.

"You’re no more responsible than he is. It was an accident. You didn’t kill her, there was nothing you could have done."

Bobby gave me a half grin, "Sweetlips, you’re not the first person to tell me that. It’s myself I have to convince."

At the same time, Bobby and I both sensed that someone was at the end of the couch. I knew exactly who it was.

The tone of his voice when he spoke sent chills down my spine. "Sweetlips?"

Bobby and I moved our heads in unison as we whipped them around to find a very unhappy Ranger. The look in his eyes was not good.

Ranger placed the bag of ice he was holding, down on the couch, and turned to walk away.

Oh no, not again. "WAIT!" I cried.

Ranger froze and so did Bobby for that matter.

"No more running! No more turned backs!" I yelled as I pushed back on Bobby and swung my feet off the couch. I needed to stand to feel like I was on even ground.

Once I was up, I started to tip over. In an instant, two very strong sets of hands were there to support me. Gaining my balance, I flailed my arms a bit to get them to let go.

"Ok, ok. Thanks." I took one step forward to find out how much pressure I could put on my foot.

Well, ok! I could hobble, so I did. Not only did I need to stand, but also, I needed some space. Finally standing far enough away, I started in.

"Listen you two, I’ve had enough!" Calm, stay calm, I told myself. Taking a deep breath, I went on, "This needs to be settled, now. No more running," I looked at Ranger.

"No more sneaking," I switched to Bobby.

"We three, need to get this ALL out in the open, once and for all."

Ranger stood glaring, at whom I’m not sure, but right at this moment, his stare would have cut through steel. "Fine. What’s with Sweetlips?"

That's not where I wanted him to start.

"Ranger, it's a nickname Bobby has for me." Wow, I surprised myself with how matter of fact I sounded.

Ranger took a step toward Bobby. "Did you try to sleep with her? Did you try to take her away from me like you took Monica?"

The look on Bobby's was pure agony. He stumbled back slightly like he had been punched. Stumbling backward into a chair, he plopped down, and sat there staring.

This propelled me into action. I took a couple hops toward Ranger and got in his face.

Narrowing my eyes and poking him in the chest with my finder, I said in a lowered tone, "You know I didn't sleep with Bobby. I told you about what happened that night. You also know that Monica being taken from both of you isn't Bobby's fault." I paused and leaned in closer. "Why he calls me Sweetlips is no more your business than why Joe calls me Cupcake, or Tank calls me Bombshell or Lester, Beautiful. Why you call me Babe is none of theirs."

Changing from pointed finger to palm flat against his chest, I took one hop back. It was time to soften my approach.

"Ranger, is the real problem my nickname?" He tried to avert his eyes, but I took my free hand and moved his head so our eyes met. "Please don't use me as an excuse to fuel your guilt and frustration. Don't use me to get back at Bobby for something that wasn't his fault."

Ranger didn't say anything, but just fell back onto the couch. He seemed a little stunned. Hell, I guess we all were.

"She's right." We all jumped at the deep voice.

"It's time both of you got some sense," Tank scolded. "It's about time you stopped letting this eat away at you. You bottled it up for years, never talking about it."

Tank came into the room and stood between Bobby and Ranger, each seated opposite on another. He turned to Ranger. "What are you doing? Monica is gone and we all miss her, but it wasn't Bobby's fault. Don't use Bombshell as an excuse to hold on to that anger. And don't be shocked and surprised Bobby has a name for her. We all do." He drew his hand up to his face and rubbed his eyes. " Shit Ric, if you weren't going after her…" he trailed off giving me a soft smile. "She loves you, and we all know it."

If the pause Tank gave was for me to speak, I couldn’t. I just stood wide-eyed, watched, and listened.

Then, as if a thought suddenly struck him, Tank spun around and looked at Bobby. "And you? What were you thinkin', man? You know the Boss was after Bombshell. We all respected that. You see the way she looks at him."

Tank gave a heavy sigh. I had the feeling that what he was going to say, wasn’t going to be easy for Bobby to hear.

"She’s gone Bobby. You can’t replace her with Steph."

Bobby jerked at that, like someone had slapped him.

"I…I never thought Stephanie was a replacement," he said looking at Tank. Then he switched his gaze to Ranger. Bobby had an almost pleading look to his eyes. "That was never my intention. For everything that has happened…it was never my intention. "

He dropped his head to his hands. "Stephanie just made me feel so…she made me feel like I did when I had Monica. In a sort of twisted way, I used Stephanie." He lifted his head and looked at me. I gave him a comforting smile. We were ok.

"I just wanted the one date, and then I said goodbye." He turned and looked Ranger directly in the eye. "To both of them."

Tank gave a small nod, like he understood. Looking at Ranger I could see that his eyes had softened a bit. I think this was my cue.

Hobbling over to Ranger, I sat next to him on the couch, and took his hands in mine. The pain I saw on his face was evident when he looked at me. "I love you. Nothing is going to change that." I stopped to make sure he understood. He nodded slightly. "The date with Bobby was innocent, but something I had to do. I didn't understand why until tonight." I glanced at Bobby, then turned back to Ranger. "It's over let's move on." He nodded again but, in the process, dropped his head.

We were all silent, not moving or making a sound. Ranger raised his head, looked at Bobby. "I know it wasn't your fault. I'm sorry for silently blaming you all these years." He paused as his faced twisted in pain. " I miss her too." Bobby nodded once, his eyes watery.

We were silent again for a few long minutes. It was time for me to get some answers. I wasn't done, not by a long shot.

Standing, I breathed, "So…" Three sets of wary eyes snapped to attention. Catching them off guard, I smiled inwardly.

"Who wants to tell me what happened in my parking lot?" I asked in my best 'answer your mother' tone. "No more…EVER… pulling guns on each other. Do I make myself clear?" Feeling in control of the situation, and also very proud of myself, I fisted my hands and placed them on my hips to prove my point.

A range of emotions flickered across their faces, ending with amusement. Peachy, I'm the entertainment again.

Laughing, Ranger stood and pulled me close to him. "Babe, Bobby and I didn't draw on each other."

I narrowed my eyes.

"It might have looked that way. Yes, we were discussing…loudly…the situation with you. But, while that was going on, we heard the distinct sound of a rifle being racked. We didn't know where the sound came from, so we played it out like we drew on each other, to try and give us some time."

The shock must have shown on my face. Ranger pulled me in closer for a big bear hug. Whispering in my ear he said, "I'm sorry. We didn't mean to scare you."

Holding on to my upper arms, he gently pushed me back so I could see his face. "Babe, no matter what goes on personally between Lester, Tank, Bobby, and myself, we're there for each other when something goes down. That's the way it's always been. That's the way it will always be."

"Now you're part of that too, Bombshell," Tank beamed. I stood there, unbelieving, in Ranger's arms. "Besides, jobs are more fun when you're involved. We have the best time."

Rolling my eyes, I snorted. "You're all goons… every one of you."

"Hey! What did I do?" Lester inquired from the front doorway. "Don't lump me in with those bone heads, Beautiful," he said smiling. He came over and gave me a peck on the cheek.

Just then Ranger's phone rang. Letting go of me with one hand, he answered it with his customary greeting.

"Yo." Silence.

He raised an eyebrow, and handed me the phone.

The Switch 2

I'm sitting on the park bench wondering what I'm doing here. It's warm and sunny, but all these darn ducks, they just won't leave me alone. Jumping in surprise, I notice one duck has landed on the back of the bench and is staring at me.

"What do you want?" I asked my feathered visitor.

In response, it pecks at my shoulder.

"Hey! Stop that!" The stupid bird does it again.

"Cut it out!" I squeal as I swat at it.

"Ow!" comes its deep voiced reply. I watched, transfixed, as the duck opened its beak and the word "Babe" came out. Huh?

"Babe?" This time it was louder and I started to shake.

"Babe? Time to wake up." Ranger?

"Wha?" I slowly opened my eyes. No ducks to be seen. But there was one very sexy, naked hottie in bed with me. Although, he was rubbing his cheek.

With a small laugh he said, "Babe, why did you hit me?" I must have looked confused. Hey, he might as well learn now that I'm not at my best in the morning.

"I know the morning isn't your best time," he chided while throwing me his 200 watts. "I was just trying to wake you up in a way that I thought you might enjoy." Now I got the wolf grin. "But you don't seem to interested. Maybe I should start on a different part of your body, other than your shoulder, when I try to wake you." This time, the amusement showed in his features, which warmed his whole face. God, this man is gorgeous and he's mine.

"We need to get going. Remember? Vinnie called yesterday?" Rolling my eyes, I groaned and buried my head in my pillow. No wonder I was dreaming of ducks.

The weasel called Ranger looking for me. I told him to leave me the hell alone and I'd be in, in the morning. Now it was morning. I hate mornings.

Having been so tired last night, Ranger showed me his bedroom and I promptly passed out, fully dressed and without dinner. Finding myself naked this morning, I figured he took care of my clothes. Now he needed to feed me.

"Fine. That stupid weasel, " I complained as I threw back the covers and sat up. An ice pack sloshed to the floor. Groaning again, I remembered my ankle.

Glancing at the clock on the bedside table, I screamed. It was 6:30!

Ranger seemed to know what was coming…doesn't he always?

"Workout time, Babe. Don't think that ankle is going to stop you, either," he said flatly.

"Ohhh no! Forget the ankle. I DIDN'T EAT DINNER!" I half whined, half screeched. "I haven't eaten for over 18 hours. I can't do any exercise on an empty stomach." Thinking quickly I added, "I'd get sick and throw up." Crossing my arms in a huff, I pulled the covers back over me.

Ranger walked over to me, placed his hands on either side of my hips, and leaned in. "Fine, but tomorrow…" he trailed off as he gave me one of his bone melting kisses.

Pulling him down to me, I whispered, "I might agree to a different kind of workout." Ranger's reply was the darkening of his eyes.

Oh boy!

*************************************

Ranger stopped the Mercedes in front of the office, but didn't turn the car off. I gave him a quizzical look.

"Be right back, Babe." That's all he said, so I got out and made my way into the office.

"Girlfriend!!" Lula screamed. "Get your skinny white ass over here and tell us how you bagged Batman!"

It was Connie's turn to scream. "How did you do it? How did you find him? It's all over the 'burg that you hunted down Ranger. And what's with sniper fire at your place?"

Heaving myself at the old leather couch, I told them the whole story. Well, most of it. I started with the shooter and ended with Ranger. Save the best for last right? The bedroom details were going to stay just that…in the bedroom… or wherever we did it.

When I finished, Connie and Lula were bouncing up and down so hard, I almost had to look and see if there were springs on their chairs.

"Will you two stop it! You look like a couple of Tiggers bouncing like that."

Lula waved me off. "There's only one Tigger. He’s the shit. Don't you know nothin' girl? 'sides, Tigger boings."

"Lula, Tigger bounces," I said emphatically.

"Boing," she said just as emphatically.

"Bounce."

"Boing."

Christ. Standing, I limped toward the bathroom by way of the combo supply/break room.

Reaching for the doorknob, I turned and said to Lula, "Bounce."

My plan was to get inside the room and then close the door before she could say anything. It didn't quite go as I planned. When I spun around to step in, I stopped dead in my tracks. I couldn’t believe it. This has to be a hallucination.

Moving closer I felt the bile start to rise in my throat. Then I saw them. No doubt about it now. My head started to ache as the world started to spin.

I staggered back to the couch, sat, and put my head between my knees, while Connie and Lula crowded around.

"Wha…what is THAT doing here?" I stammered as I pointed to the door behind me.

One of them moved and opened the door. "What? There ain’t nothin’ in here, girl! Why you all freaked out?"

They don’t get it…they don’t SEE it! Oh man, I’m going to vomit. Then, as if things couldn’t get any worse, Vinnie’s door opens and Joyce walks out. I don’t think my stomach can handle any more today.

"Stephanie, what’s the matter? Feeling under the weather?" she asked in a sickening tone.

"Bite me." Hey, it was all I could manage.

Joyce grunted like the cow she is, and pushed past Lula into the break room. We listened to her clog her way over to the bathroom and shut the door.

She didn’t see IT either? Oh god.

Connie was sitting next to me, rubbing my back soothingly. "Steph? You ok?"

"Yeah, you ok girl? You gots me kinda worried."

Standing, I limped my way back into the break room. "Ok? Ok? How can I be ok when THAT is in here? What the hell is that doing HERE?"

Joyce picked that moment to finish adjusting her fat ass and step out of the bathroom.

"Jesus Christ Stephanie! What is your problem?" Damn! I did soooo not want to point this out with Joyce here. I was so distraught I had forgotten about her.

I was breathing fire by this time, but I’d be damned if I was going to say anything in front of Joyce’s lard ass. "Never mind," I hissed out between clenched teeth. Needing to get out of there before Joyce noticed anything, I turned on my one good heel. I was too late.

"So, this is the new table Vinnie said he put in here?" Joyce asked.

"Yeah, he took it as payment for some low life he bonded out," Connie supplied.

"It’s bit much for a break room, but hey…whatever," was Joyce’s eloquent reply.

Listening intently, I heard a couple clicks of her heels. Being frozen in fear, I couldn’t move.

"It’s expensive." The knot in my stomach tightened. "Wonder if Vinnie knows it’s damaged? Not worth much with these two dents on the top…" She stopped. All I heard was her gasp as she sucked in air.

Here it comes. Trying to move, I failed miserably. It only took a few second for it to hit.

A high-pitched, ugly, witch-like cackle erupted from Joyce. She was laughing at me.

"What? She didn’t tell you two about the table?" Connie and Lula had to be thoroughly confused by now. My gut was telling me Joyce was going to clear it all up for them.

"Let’s just say, the original owner of this table, used it for…other things besides serving dinner."

Finally being able to turn, I was just in time to see comprehension cross first Connie’s, then Lula’s, face.

"Shiiiit. It’s not…no girlfriend, it can’t be."

"It’s not what?" Came the deep voice from behind me.

Shoot me now. Please god just let the earth swallow me whole.

Locking my sites on Joyce, I watched as she sauntered her fat lard butt over to ‘the spot’ on the table and leaned against it. "Hi Ranger," she purred.

If I didn’t leave now, I was going to kill her. Summoning all my strength, I turned myself around and dashed out the front door. Although, my 'dash' was severely impeded by my ankle. Not a grand exit, but I didn't care too much at that point.

I ended up sitting on the stairs behind the office. At some point I had started crying, but hadn’t noticed until just now. I'm not even sure why. Dickie was a horse's ass and I wanted nothing to do with him. My guess is that the humiliation of the event still cut. Seeing 'the table' had stung.

While sitting with my head resting on my arms, which were crossed over my knees, a pair of black boots came into my blurry view.

Crouching to my level, Ranger softly spoke. "Babe?" There wasn’t enough in me to speak. Lifting my head, I wiped my eyes and gave him a weak smile.

"You ok?" He looked really concerned. I nodded my head.

"Yeah," I choked out between sniffs. Time to change tactics. Laughing slightly I waved my hand toward the office. "It's just a silly table. I don't know why I had such a stupid reaction." I figured the girls had filled him in…if not Joyce herself. That thought made me cringe.

Ranger's face turned very serious. "It's not just a table to you, and I'd say, under the circumstances, your reaction was not stupid." How could I not love this man?

Ranger's phone chose that moment to ring. Saved by the bell…again.

"Yo."

Just as like last night, his eyebrow went up and he handed the phone to me.

"Do I need to hire you an assistant Babe? I'd apply myself, but I'm otherwise occupied in other areas of your life," he said with a wolf grin firmly in place. "Here, it's Mary Lou."

Wrinkling my brow in question, I took the phone from Ranger. His eyebrow went a little higher.

Understanding dawned on me. Sheepishly I said, "I gave her your number when I went to see Alexander. You know…just in case something happened."

Both his eyebrows went up at this. Nodding he said, "Good thinking."

"Mary Lou? What's up?" Her breathing sounded funny.

"Steph?" Oh, that didn't sound good. I know that tone. "Steph, I need to talk to you."

"Mary Lou, calm down. Don't hyperventilate. What's going on?" A thought struck me. "Oh my god, is Rex ok?" Now I sounded panicked. It's never a good thing when we're both hysterical.

Ranger sat next to me on the step, again he watched with a concerned look.

"Rex? Oh…yeah, yeah he is fine." she hurried on, "It's me I'm not so sure about, Steph. I'm scared." She sounded it too.

"Where are you?" I asked, still with panic in my voice. Ranger's hand started to rub my back as he leaned in.

"Home."

"I'll be there in…" I trailed off when Ranger nudged me and mouthed 'ten'.

"We'll be there in ten. Just hang on." Another thought hit me. "You alone?"

"No, Lenny and kids are here."

"Good. Stay put."

The Switch 3

We arrived at Mary Lou's house in record time. I repeated for Ranger what Mary Lou had said on the phone. He was in his zone, so I can only guess that he heard me.

Who am I kidding? He listened to every word and could probably recite every detail of the ride over. The minute the car stopped in front of her house, I was halfway out the car door.

Ranger grabbed my arm. "Wait." He pulled me back to sit down while his "bat senses" worked the area. I just rolled my eyes. After a few seconds he let go and gave me a slow nod. I remembered my ankle after my first step and ended up doing a quick skip up the sidewalk.

Hastily, I knocked once and went for the door handle. Before I could even get it turned halfway, I felt that someone else had hold from the other side. The door flew open and a very large and angry looking Lenny met me.

Lenny isn't all muscle like Ranger and the guys, but don't get me wrong, he's big and can hold his own in the physical intimidation arena. Mary Lou has said he's well hung, too. Mental shrug… I'll take her word for it.

My forward momentum propelled me, headfirst, into Lenny's stomach.

"Umph..." was the only sound Lenny expelled as I felt his two large hands grabbed my head. Together we stumbled back a few steps.

"Whoa…Steph," he urged as he steadied both of us. "I see you still have that hard skull of yours." Lenny let go of my head just about the time he noticed Ranger. Before I could introduce anyone, Lenny had pushed me to the side and slightly behind him. I felt him tense when I grabbed on to his arm to steady myself from his shove as well as trying to protect my ankle.

I'm glad it only took me a few seconds to regain my ground because Ranger had stopped just short of the door. The tension in the air was thick.

The two men stood facing, legs spread with defensive postures in place, sizing each other up.

"Lenny, this is my friend Ranger," I said as stepped out from behind Lenny. Lenny's eyes narrowed slightly, as if he was trying to make up his mind. Finally extending his hand to Ranger, he nodded. "Nice to meet you." Ranger returned the nod and took his hand.

Once Lenny had the boys safely playing upstairs, we all sat in the living room. Ranger and Lenny sat, eyes drilling, looking stern and apprehensive at Mary Lou, who looked green and about ready to throw up. Oh boy. This was going to be fun…and it wasn’t going to work.

I stood and went to sit next to Mary Lou, scooting Lenny over to the chair I had just vacated. Taking both of her hands in mine, I turned her to face me. "Take a deep breath Mare." We took one together. I could feel the two sets of male eyes on us. It made me want to throw up too.

"Oh god, Steph. I'm so scared! I was at the mall, I got my mother to take the kids for the afternoon…anyway, I was at the mall because Macy's was supposed to be having this great sale and I figured that I could find something…you know, there's always something I could pick up…."

"Mare," I interrupted. The look I gave was enough for her to get the point. I didn't chance a look at the guys. She was focused on me, and able to speak. No need to remind her of their presence. Thank god, they knew enough to keep quiet.

"Oh, sorry. So, I left the mall and headed over to Rusick's Appliances. I know it's not the best part of town to be in, but they've been around forever and have the best deals on refrigerators and ours really needs to be replaced so I was just going to do price shopping…" Giving her hand a squeeze as she took a breath, I threw another one of "the looks" at her. "Sorry…" She was nervous and, I could tell, on the verge of tears.

"It's ok, let’s just try and focus."

She gave a tired smile and nodded. "You know how when you park at Rusick's it's right across from that alley behind the boarded-up Simon's Market? Well, I had to squeeze into that last parking space that's directly across from the alley. When I pulled up I noticed two guys come out of Simon's. I thought maybe someone had bought the place and was fixing it up to open another store. I watched them a little more closely and realized they were arguing. Never being one to miss some good 'burg gossip, I stayed in my minivan pretending to fiddle with something while trying to eye these two across the street. The one was familiar, a cop I think, I don't know who. I even thought, ‘I've got to ask Steph to ask Eddie if he knows anyone on the force who was interested in the old Simon's Market.’ The other guy was a shabby dresser. He had torn pants and coat. I didn't know who he was at all. Then the one guy grabbed the other guy by the coat and pushed him up against the building. The one guy leaned in real close…" she gave a small laugh, " I almost thought he was going to kiss him."

Shaking her head she said, "Not at all what I wanted to see."

Suddenly quiet, Mary Lou's face went pale as her eyes widened. "Then…then the one guy pulled a gun and pressed it against shabby guy's chest. He said something and shabby guy looked really scared." She paused as her lips started to tremble. "Then all of a sudden shabby guy jerked and grabbed at the guy. The guy said something else then backed away and shabby guy collapsed. The guy stood for a second and just looked at him on the ground." She stopped and took a deep breath.

"I had to get out of there! I put the van in reverse but hit the gas pedal too hard and smacked into a car behind me. That's when…." she gulped air, "that's when he SAW ME! He looked right at me Steph and he looked mad. He turned like he was going to cross the street, but I didn't wait, I just threw the van in gear and got the hell out of there."

"I didn't know what to do!" Her tone of voice was at the squeak level by this time. "I floored it out of the parking lot and I was going to head to the station, but tall guy is a cop…I think…" Her hands were shaking in mine, and I could tell she desperately wanted us to believe her.

"Then when Lenny was leaving for work this morning…he found…found a note!"

Both Mary Lou and I flinched at the sound of Ranger’s voice. "Do you have it?" he asked, looking at Lenny.

Lenny nodded, stood, and went into the kitchen.

"Oh my god, Steph…" The sobs started. "What am I going to do? What if he tries to hurt me?" Her eyes became huge. "What if he tries to hurt the boys?" She was hysterical now and I wasn’t far behind.

"Over my dead body," Lenny said through gritted teeth, standing just inside the living room. His face was red, the note visibly crumpled in one hand.

Ranger stood and crossed the room to stand right in front of Lenny. I couldn’t see Ranger’s face, but after a few seconds Lenny relaxed a bit, then handed Ranger the note. It had to be some male ESP thing because neither of them spoke.

Ranger read the note, then held it out to me.

You stupid bitch! Keep your damn mouth shut and nothing will happen to you or your family. This is the only warning you’ll get.

The paper started shaking so it became hard to read. What the…? Oh, I was shaking.

Ranger came over and steadied my hands in his. "I’ll take the note and see what we can find." Flipping open his phone, he started talking as he walked into the kitchen. "Get a team together for surveillance and Lester and Bobby to my place in 30. Send the team to…" he faded as he entered the kitchen.

Mary Lou was still crying as Lenny came over and enveloped her in his arms. "Shhh…it's going to be fine. I'll make sure we'll all be ok, sweetheart." He rocked her gently in his arms as she sobbed into his chest.

Ranger came out of the kitchen and sat in the chair directly in front of Mary Lou. He lightly touched her knee to get her attention.

"I just need to ask you some questions, ok? All I need is for you to try and remember," he encouraged. Mary Lou agreed with a nod as Ranger started.

"Tell me about the guy with the gun. Anything you can remember, build, clothes, facial features…?"

"Well…He was tall, taller than the other guy…slim build, both of them were. His hair was brown and he wore a brown leather bomber jacket." She stopped to think. This was good. He was giving her something to concentrate on.

"Hmmm…jeans, he was wearing jeans and ..oh…cowboy boots… nothing special about them that I could see." She wrinkled her brow as if trying to force the memories.

"Oh! I remember something!" Mary Lou sat up on the end of the couch. "He had a watch! It's the kind you hang off your belt or pants or something…not the kind around the wrist. I remember him reaching down and pulling it out on a chain to look at it. I mean, it was round and silver…I guess it was a watch." Losing some of her confidence, her eyes darted between Ranger and Lenny. "I don't know…it just struck me as odd. My first thought was that it was a watch and that seemed weird ‘cause those kind aren't real popular, ya know?"

Ranger patted her knee. "No, that's good. Some small detail like that can make the difference." He smiled a dimmed version of the 200 watts. "What about the other guy?"

"Oh," she offered as she batted a hand in the air, "he was a mess. His clothes were torn. His hair wasn't combed and he had on some cruddy old sneakers." She paused to think. "He was shorter than the other guy. I'd say not much taller than me….5'6" or 5'7". The other guy was about 3 inches taller." A few beats went by while she thought.

Shrugging, she finally said, "I guess there wasn't anything that stood out about the other guy. Unless you count the fact he ended up shot."

"Where did the tall guy hold the gun?" Ranger asked as he stood. "Here, show me where he brought his hand up, how high."

Mary Lou stood and walked over to Ranger. She seemed to be struggling. Lenny stood and joined them. "Ok honey, I'm the tall guy and Ranger is the shorter one. Take my hand and show me where I put the gun against Ranger."

This seems to really help because Mary Lou didn’t hesitate for a second. She grabbed Lenny's right hand, where he was making the universal gun sign, thumb up and index finger out with those below curled under. Mary Lou placed Lenny's index finger high on the left side of Ranger's chest. She took a few steps back to assess what she had done.

"Yep, I think that's about it." She cocked her head to one side, then the other. "But he wasn't holding straight at him, it was sorta tilted up, so maybe a little lower." She moved Lenny's hand again. "That's it!"

Ranger flipped open his phone again. "Get someone over to the old Simon's Market to look for a body…in the back alley…..Then start with the hospitals and morgues for DOAs with gunshot wounds to the upper left chest cavity." Ranger stopped and looked at Mary Lou. "Did you hear anything when the gun went off? A pop?"

Mary Lou studied the floor for a few seconds before shaking her head.

"Probably a silencer on the gun that was used," Ranger spoke into the phone before closing it.

"I've got a team on the way over. It will be round the clock." He stated as he looked at Lenny. Switching his gaze to Mary Lou, he said, "I'd like to put someone inside as well, but I don't want to intrude on your privacy."

Mary Lou looked shocked and on the verge of tears again. Lenny put his arm around her shoulders and said, "That's fine. We'll do whatever it takes to keep us safe."

Ranger nodded. "We're going back to meet with some others and figure out where to go from here. I'll be back to fill you in."

The Switch 4

When we got back to Ranger's place, Tank, Lester and Bobby were waiting for us. Gathering us in the kitchen, Ranger wasted no time. "What do you have?" he said, nodding to Tank.

"Santoni or the bum?" I banged my head against the table. How could I forget about the psycho after me ? "Santoni is easiest. We took him in a few months ago. He's been cooling his heels in lock-up. Apparently he finally found someone to bond him out again."

When nothing else was said, I lifted my head. Yep, Tank was staring at me.

"Tank, I don't need much of a reason to kill him, so don't say who I think you're going to say." He just nodded his head. "That lousy son-of-a…I'll kill him! I'll kill him…that weasel!" Trying to stand, I flinched as I was reminded of my ankle.

Bobby immediately noticed and came over. "Sit down Sweetlips, let me take a look." Doing as he asked, I noticed Ranger had tensed, Tank was staring and Lester's eyes were big. Oh yeah, he hadn't heard the latest endearment. Doing what I do best, I ignored it all while Bobby looked over my ankle. "It looks good. You should be ok in a day or two."

Tank cleared his throat and continued. "So, Santoni has been out on bond looking for Bombshell here, but couldn't find her. I talked with the guy who sold him the rifle. He just said Santoni kept mentioning something about hunting down the ‘little bitch.’ We found the place where he had been waiting near Steph's apartment. Looks like he had been waiting a couple of days." Tank turned to Ranger and said, "I don't think he's just going to go away."

With his blank face in place, Ranger responded, "Then we'll make him go away." The Three Stooges all nodded and I could swear they were all sporting a small smile. I rolled my eyes and put my head back down on the table.

Ranger's hand comes up to stroke my hair. "Don't worry, Babe. I'll talk to Vinnie about bonding the scum out again. I'll make sure he sees the error of his ways."

"Good," I said to the table.

"About the bum," Tank continued. My head snapped up. "He was IDed at St. Francis morgue. Teddy Baxter, a low life slug, connected to the Mitrani organization. He's at the bottom of the barrel for dealing. No clues about the ID of the shooter. My contact at the coroner's office is going to let me know the ballistics on the weapon."

"We need to ID the shooter," said Lester. Ranger agreed and filled them in on what Mary Lou had told us earlier.

"I don't know if this means anything," Bobby started, "but rumor has it that the Mitrani family is trying to get into gun running. I guess there have been a few Ramos dealings that have gotten too much attention from the cops. I wonder if the Mitranis have had a hand in that. How else do you squeeze someone else out? Make it hard for them to do business."

Lester nodded. "Yeah, I had heard that too. Maybe the Mitranis have someone on the inside of the department?"

"I could ask Joe," I suggested. Four heads swiveled in my direction. Ranger tensed again, but looked thoughtful before he spoke.

"I think I'd rather wait on that, Babe. Let's try to ID him first. If the shooter is a cop, we don't know how deep this goes."

Narrowing my eyes, I locked my gaze with Ranger's. "Are you trying to say that you think Joe might be a part of something like this?" The look of astonishment on Ranger's face was genuine.

"No, Babe. Morelli might not be my favorite person, but I know he's a good cop, an honest cop. The truth is if it ever came down to it, I'd trust him with my life. I think we should wait because if it turns out not to be a cop, Morelli could ruffle some feathers that don't need to be ruffled. That wouldn't be good." Now it was my turn to look astonished. I gave a sharp nod with my head to show my understanding of what Ranger had really just said.

Turning back to the guys, Ranger started to outline his strategy. "Here's what we'll do. I want things to look as normal as possible. We'll have a team on the Stankovic's house around the clock. Tank, talk with Lenny to see if he wants a tail. He looks like he can handle himself, but I want to be sure." Ranger turned his attention to me. "We need Mary Lou to get the word out that the kids are going to visit a relative out of state. We'll make one up if we have to. Lenny and Mary Lou can say they need a second honeymoon. Then we'll place the kids in a safe house and she can work with us on IDing the cop."

I placed my hands across the table on top of Ranger's. "Thank you."

He smiled softly and said, "You're welcome."

"I have one question." Leave it to me. "How is Mary Lou going to help you ID the cop?"

Lester stood as he started to explain. "Don't worry, Beautiful. We'll get some academy class pictures. If need be, we'll disguise her and take her to Pino's or where ever we can try and make an ID, maybe stake out the station." He proceeded to the fridge and started to dig around.

"Well that sounds great, but what about the kids? If she's out with you all trying to find the cop, who will be taking care of Kenny and Mikey?"

The room grew suddenly quiet and no one would meet my eyes. I started to get a really bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"Ranger?" I demanded. "Who?"

"Well, Babe, that's the beauty of my plan. You will," he said quickly as he stood up and backed away from the table. "We need to get you someplace safe too. We'll put you, Mary Lou, and the kids in the same house. While she's out with us, I figured you could stay with the kids."

My forehead hit the table again, this time with a thump. Why me?

*******************************

Gliding along in the Mercedes, I finally had to ask, "Where are we going?" Ranger had said everything was ok and I believed him, but why wake me and take me driving. I had been sleeping peacefully when Ranger decided we needed to take a ride.

He glanced my way and gave a slight smile. Super. The one-word answers had just become no word answers. Fine, I can just let my mind drift.

Staring out the side window, I started thinking about Mary Lou. I couldn’t let anything happen to her. I snuck a peek at Ranger and smiled. He wouldn’t let anything happen to her. He might not know her from Adam, but she’s my best friend, and that was enough for him to truly care.

The car came to a stop and jerked me out of my thoughts. Ranger turned and caught me looking at him. I blushed, as he sported his wolf grin.

"We’re here."

I was confused. Looking out the front window, I knew immediately where we were. We were in the burg, parked in an alley behind the… Oh no. He wouldn’t.

"Yes, I would. I told you I would," he said as he stepped out of the car.

He’s freakin’ nuts if he thinks I’m getting out. I’m staying right here.

Ranger had moved to the back of the car and was getting something out of the trunk. After a few minutes he opened my door and held out his hand.

"No way," I muttered while shaking my head. "I’m not going in there. This is crazy!"

Ranger’s hand dropped and he crouched down leaning forward on his toes. Placing a hand on my knee, I heard him let out a big breath. "I made you a promise, Babe. Please allow me to keep it."

Reaching out, I put my hand on his cheek. "Ranger, what you said to me in California was beautiful. I know you were sincere. But trying to put good memories in front of all the old bad ones…well…it’s just too big a job and not really necessary. We share lots of good memories, past and present."

He looked at the ground for a moment, and then returned his gaze to me. "Stephanie, when it comes to you, no job is too big. I agree that over the past two years we’ve made many good memories, but this is about me wanting to do something for you." The look in his eyes was so soft and caring, I could feel his love for me pouring out.

Being lost in the pull of Ranger’s eyes is not a bad thing, but sometimes, I get so caught up, I lose track of other things. Like the fact he had popped my seat belt and had me out of the car with the door shut before I could think. And by the time his lips met mine, I gave up the illusion that I had any control in the situation.

His warm, moist lips were on mine with his tongue seeking entrance. When my lips parted, his wet slick probe invaded and started to explore and taste my entire mouth. Ranger lifted a hand to the back of my head, trying to press our mouths even closer together.

My knees turned week as he broke the passionate kiss and started a wet path up my jaw to my ear. "And if all those bad memories include sex, just think of how much fun it will be. Remember the beach the morning we left California?" Like he had to ask? I’ll never forget that or ever look at a beach in the same way again.

Mental head slap! Now I get it. He really isn’t trying to replace the memories, just trying to change my thoughts…my perspective… about certain things, certain places. Pushing him back slightly, I looked deeply into his eyes. It didn’t take him more than a second to read me and flash his 200 watts.

"Exactly," he whispered.

He came at me for another mind numbing kiss. Once he slowed and ended it, he put his forehead against mine with his hands on either side on my face. "Babe, you can’t tell me that the thought of going in there isn’t turning you on." His right hand left my face and slid between my legs to massage me through my jeans.

I closed my eyes and gasped, or maybe it was a moan. It didn’t matter; he was right, the thought of being this naughty left me wet and wanting. When I opened my eyes, the wolf grin had reappeared.

He stepped back from me, picked up the bag on the ground, and took my hand, pulling me toward the back door of the Tasty Pastry.

Oh my god. "Wait," I squeaked. Ranger stopped and turned with a raised eyebrow. "We can’t break and enter to just…you know. It’s wrong." Without a word Ranger let go of my hand and went for his pocket. Pulling out a key, a sly smile formed on his lips.

"How did you…" I asked, stunned.

"Ways." I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.

"But I already like doughnuts, what if this only increases my appetite?" I blurted out managing to keep a straight face.

His eyes darkened as he yanked me inside and shut the door.

Once inside, Ranger pulled out of the bag what looked to be a camping lantern, but electric. He flipped it on and the back room filled with a soft light.

I had busied myself with wondering just how much food the large refrigerators could hold, and how I could get one in my apartment, when from behind me I heard Ranger’s voice. He was close, very close.

"Don’t worry, Babe. There will be plenty of time to buy you a bigger refrigerator when we’re through here," he laughed.

He was laughing at me! Damn ESP. In a small huff, I tore out of his grasp and went over and opened the refrigerator door. Having worked here, I knew what would be in there. Ok, it may have been many years ago, but I doubt anything has changed all that much, after all, it was the ‘burg.

I held open the large silver door and pretended to rummage around. Sensing Ranger approach me from the other side of the door, I leaned in further. "Babe?"

I straightened and popped my head around the door to look at him. "Yes?" I said, widening my eyes and raising my eyebrows, looking as innocent as I could.

"You can eat later." If I didn’t know better, I’d swear Ranger was being impatient.

"Oh, I wasn’t looking for anything to eat." Before Ranger could move to get me, I took the spatula I had found in an icing bowl and flung white runny icing at him…then quickly took several steps backwards. He had a line of the stuff starting at his cheek, down his chin and neck, ending just below the collar of his black t-shirt.

Hold the phone…I squinted to get a better look… there was some in his hair too.

Ranger placed the palm of his hand on the refrigerator door and pushed it closed. He had his blank face on, but even in this dim light I could see a mischievous look dance in his eyes. As he took steps toward me, I threw it reverse. I backed up until I hit something solid, but soft. A white cloud puffed out from behind me.

Ranger followed and slammed his hands on the soft object on either side of my face. Another white cloud appeared.

He caught my eyes with his and slowly took the spatula from my grip. He raised it until it was directly between our faces, but not cutting off our eye contact. Then he tapped me on the end of my nose with it and smiled.

I smiled back, but it started to fade as I watched Ranger get closer to the sticky utensil. He opened his mouth and brought his tongue out to slowly lick icing off its rubbery side. My eyes were glued to his sexy, sultry mouth as he curled his tongue back in and swallowed.

Throwing the spatula to the side, he put his hand back where it was behind my head and kissed my nose, cleaning off the icing.

"Now," he growled, "what are you going to do about the mess you made?" I felt a rush of wetness between my legs. Oh, what this man could do to me.

Without saying a word, I stretched my neck forward so my mouth met his chin and I gave him a quick peck. Taking just a second, I licked my lips free of icing and started my clean up effort.

Trailing my tongue downward, I took one long wet lick. Bringing my mouth back up to his cheek, I started with small licks and worked to thoroughly clean his cheek.

When I hit his chin again, I decided I probably didn’t give his neck a very good cleaning. This time I paid better attention with light licks, nips and kisses. Veering off my track, I made my way to just below his ear and worked the tender spot. He skin was soft, warm and tasted of spice, salt and man. I couldn’t help but groan.

When I heard him moan, I stopped, nipped his ear, and brought my head back to it’s original resting place. "I think I got it all." The deep sexy voice I just heard couldn’t have been mine?

"Mmmm… I don’t know, Babe. Think you might have to check again later," the wolf grin appeared, "just to be sure."

"I can…" Ranger’s hot mouth on mine stopped me short. Once again I found myself weak in the knees because of his kiss. His smooth lips worked mine, while his slick tongue thrust in and out. One of his hands came to cup my jaw and I flinched as his touch seared my skin. Moaning into his mouth, I grabbed his tight, extremely sexy ass, and pulled his hips forward. I felt his arousal pressing on me, straining against his pants.

With my body neatly sandwiched between Ranger and several large bags of flour, he took the opportunity to explore with his hands. Explore might not be the right word. Both his hands quickly latched on to my breasts and his thumbs started to circle my already tender nipples through the fabrics of my bra and t-shirt. Moaning, I arched my back to push further into his grip.

Unexpectedly, Ranger broke the kiss and his hands left me. He looked into my eyes as I tried to convey the confusion I was feeling. In a show of understanding, he thrust his pelvis toward mine and smiled. I closed my eyes as I felt my panties soak.

Stepping back, Ranger turned and opened the refrigerator door. In the dim light of the backroom, I couldn’t see what he had retrieved. He came at me again with what seemed like more determination. With his free hand, had grabbed me and hauled me in front of him. He slid his free hand around my waist and dropped his mouth onto mine. Never breaking our kiss, he walked us backward until we hit the swinging door and burst into the front of the store behind the serving counter.

"Where." The demand came out in a deep rumble. I furrowed my brow. "Where," said this time with more force. Oh yeah, definitely impatient.

Comprehension dawned on me. Breathlessly I replied, "Behind the case."

Again, pushing my body with his, he walked us to behind the display case. He went to his knees and pulled me down with him. Placing the goodies he had taken out of the backroom by his knees, his hand came up to my hair and he pulled my head back, exposing my neck.

He started sucking and nipping at the sensitive spot where my neck joins my shoulder. I shuddered at the feel of his hot breath drifting over my skin. His upper body nudged mine backward in a signal for me to lie down.

Once settled, he stretched lengthwise over me. With him braced directly overhead, I met his eyes and drank in all the emotion they showered down on me.

"Babe, do you have any idea how turned on I am right now? To be surrounded by all these succulent, sweet things, things that are forbidden to me…forbidden, like you were, until a few weeks ago?" I saw fire blaze in his eyes. "To know that the next time you think of this place, you’ll think of me touching you, tasting you, burying myself inside you?" He closed his eyes and I could see he was struggling for control.

When he opened his eyes again, they were dark liquid pools. "God Steph, I wanted this to be…" Startling him into silence, I grabbed his hair and tugged to get his attention.

"Shut up and get to work."

And get to work, he did. His pressed his hips into me, further pinning me to the floor. He ravenously attacked my mouth and neck, while I furiously pulled at his shirt to get my hand underneath. I scratched my nails up his smooth silky back, then made my way around front to play with his hard nipples.

Moaning into my mouth, he shifted to one side and shoved a hand up my shirt and under my bra. In no time both were hiked up around my neck. My hand studiously went to work at releasing his package so I could stroke it, maybe taste it.

His tip was moist as I brushed against it, slicking my palm. In one long stroke I encircled his shaft with my fingers. I started, and kept, a steady pace as his hands worked the zipper of my jeans. Once open, he pushed them down to my knees. I was completely naked from just above my breasts to my lower thigh. That’s pretty much all the important areas I guess.

With one hand still laced in my hair, he reached down with the other and came up with a full pastry bag. He squeezed the bag and a thick red icing appeared at the tip. Starting at my nipples, he painted a circle of icing around each one and finished them off with a dollop on each tip.

Propping myself up on my elbows, I watched amazed as, just like with the spatula, his tongue rolled out of his mouth and the tip barely touched the star shaped glob on my chest. I groaned loudly in disappointment.

His eyes flicked up to meet mine. We stayed stuck like that for several beats, my chest heaving with his mouth only a breath away from creating the pleasure I craved.

I saw a sneaky smile slide onto his face as I lay back down against the cold tile and closed my eyes. When his hot steamy mouth met the cold, sweetened skin of my breast, I gasped at the sensation. His tongue licked and flicked at the icing and the hard bud that had formed underneath it. I clenched a handful of his hair when he took as much of me in his mouth as he could, and started to suck. When finished with that one, he gave the other the same amount of delicious attention.

All the while, his hand drifted lower and lower until his fingertips brushed against my damp curls. I pushed my hips upward for more of his touch. Feeling the rush of cool air on my chest, I realized he had left me. He started working my jeans the rest of the way off, then his movement stopped.

When I opened my eyes I saw Ranger dangling the pastry bag over my hot, throbbing core. His other hand worked my folds open to expose my secret flesh. I let out a scream as the cold icing directly hit that spot.

With no air left in my lungs, I couldn’t make a sound when Ranger’s mouth covered my mound. I could feel the coil tightening as he lapped up the sweetness combined with my juice. His tongue guided down to my swollen opening, and I could only close my eyes and whimper when he thrust in.

From a far away place I hear myself start to beg. "Ranger…. please." A deep moan was the only sound I heard before I felt his body over mine. His hardness brushed my wetness, looking to enter.

He pushed forward in one swift move, sliding inside my aching depths. He completely filled me as he buried himself to the hilt. Forcing my eyes open, I saw Ranger’s beautiful face staring down at me in the soft glow of the streetlights outside. Jesus, he's beautiful.

"I love you Stephanie," he whispered as he started to move.

It only took a couple of deliciously deep thrusts to have me on the edge. Framing Ranger’s face with my hands, my hips met his move for move. Feeling the tight coil starting to spring, I let myself spiral over the edge.

My inner muscles clenched in rhythm as I felt Ranger tense and pump two last times while groaning loudly.

******************

Once our adventure under the cannoli case was finished, we picked up after ourselves and put the spatula and pastry bag in the sink.

Ranger led me back to the Mercedes, but then moved to talk with someone standing by the dumpster. That's strange, I hadn't noticed anyone there before. Opening the car door, I stood to try and get a better look. Ranger handed the stranger something as he proceeded to go inside the building.

"What was that?" I asked as he climbed into the car. "Oh wait, I know. Your 'ways'" As I thought more about what I just said, and what we had just done, I couldn't help but laugh.

Ranger was looking at me like I had gone insane. I think maybe I had. In between laughs I managed to spit out why I was laughing. Holding my stomach, tears started to leak out my eyes. "You…paid someone…so we…we…could have…sex…in a bakery! I can't image… you've ever had to pay… anything to anyone… to have sex."

He was smiling ear to ear. "Not just any bakery, Babe, but the Tasty Pastry." He really was proud of himself. " And, no I haven't, but then I've never experienced someone like you before."

My laughter calmed as I looked into his loving eyes. I knew right then and there, this man would do anything for me, always be there for me. Raising a hand to his face I said," You'll always be there."

"Have been since we met, don't ever plan on stopping."

Chapter 5

Lester and I were cruising our way towards the safe house, where we would meet up with Mary Lou, the kids and the rest of the guys.

"I think I need doughnuts," I said while I was staring out the passenger window of the Bronco. "I'm sure the kids will like them, too."

Turning to address Lester, I noticed he was giving me a sideways glance.

"What?"

"Don't know if that's such a good idea, Beautiful." I rolled my eyes. "Alright, alright, we'll stop."

With a slight look of victory on my face, I put my head back and closed my eyes. Being this tired might have to become a normal way of life for me if Ranger and I don't slow down. I mentally snorted. Yeah right.

When the Bronco jerked to a stop, I opened my eyes.

"What the hell are we doing here?" I tried really hard not to sound outraged, but I don't think it worked. Lester was looking at me like I grown a second head.

"Beautiful, it's the Tasty Pastry. You buy doughnuts here."

Oh, I didn't think I could do this, not after last night.

"Come on, Beautiful. We need to get going."

"Go on Lester. You can pick mine out." Crossing my fingers, I prayed he would just go buy the damn doughnuts.

"No way! You think I'm crazy? I'm not picking out your doughnuts. If I don't get the right ones, I'll never hear the end of it."

Shit. Shit. Shit.

"I trust you. Just get some éclairs." He wasn't buying it. He marched over to my side of the car and pulled the door open.

"I'll carry you in if I have to."

Wonderful. Taking a deep breath, I stepped out of the car. I can do this.

The minute we hit the door and I saw the éclair case, I felt my face go up in flames. Fantastic, there was a line. I'm sure everyone could tell what happened here last night just by looking at me.

"Beautiful, what's the matter?" Realizing I had stepped behind Lester, and was trying to use his body as a human shield, I could feel the heat roll off my face in waves.

"Umm, nothing." I said as I gawked at the case and started to remember last night, the feel of Ranger’s hands on me, the icing…

"Steph. Steph!" Lester shook me slightly. Breaking my frozen stare, I met Lester's eyes. His look of concern turned into confusion, and then surprised awareness. "So it's true?" he said as he jerked his head toward the case. "You and…" he let that hang.

Groaning, I couldn't believe he knew. Did Ranger tell all of them? Now I was getting angry. How dare he!

"How did you know about last night?" I spat

Lester's face went back to looking confused.

"Last night?" He asked. Watching his face closely, I finally figured out that he was talking about my encounter with Joe, not Ranger.

A smirk appeared on his face. "What did happen here last night, Beautiful?"

Wow, I sure stepped in it this time.

"Nothin'."

"Uh uh. No so fast. Where were you and Ranger last night?" Turning away from him, I studied the doughnuts.

"The Boston Cremes look fresh this morning." I didn't think this would work, but I had to try.

"Steph," Lester whispered as he stepped closer to me. "I'll just go check the tracking reports for Ranger's car."

Narrowing my eyes I said, "That will only tell you where he was and not what he was doing."

Lester had the full wolf grin out now. "And what was he doing?" My only response was to roll my eyes.

As he took another step closer, I could see that Lester's eyes had turned dark. "If it's anything like what I would do if I had you alone in here with all these sweets…" My eyes went wide.

"Hey! Hey! Mister! You gonna get somethin'?" sang the girl behind the counter. I was never so grateful to anyone in my entire life. Lester stared just a few seconds longer before turning his own 200 watts on the unsuspecting teenager. They probably had to sweep her up off the floor once we left.

Storming out of the store, I didn’t bother to wait for Lester. As I reached for the door handle on the Bronco a hand came around and covered my mouth.

"Don’t say a fucking word, bitch." It was Charlie Santoni and he had brought a knife up to my neck. "You think you can just get away with sending me back to that hell hole? I’m going to make you pay for tricking me, you slut. I’m going to cut you and watch you bleed."

Where the hell was Lester? He pulled us back behind the Bronco, out of sight of the Tasty Pastry. "And don’t be thinking that ape you’re with is going to help you."

"Is that so, Santoni?" Lester appeared in front of me with his gun drawn and raised level with Santoni’s head…and my head too.

"Don’t move or I’ll slit her throat!"

"You don’t have the balls. You think you’re fast enough?" Oh god, he’s daring Santoni.

I felt Santoni hesitate, then push me forward directly into Lester. I could hear his retreating footsteps behind me. Lester caught me and quickly recovered both our balances.

Handing me an extra gun he pulled out of somewhere, he barked, "Here. Back inside. Wait." And he took off in the same direction as Santoni.

Trying to act as though my life hadn’t just been threatened, I wandered, a bit dazed, back inside the Tasty Pastry and took a seat at one of the little café tables.

"Is everything ok, Ma’am?" It was the girl from behind the counter. I just gave her a questioning look. "You came back in with the bag of Boston Cremes you just bought. They ok?"

Looking down at my hands, I realized I was still clutching the bag of doughnuts. While shaking my head, I heard a deep chuckle. My eyes snapped up in time to see the young girl turn bright red and flee.

"I see nothing gets between you and your doughnuts, Beautiful." Oh thank god, Lester was back and ok. Tears started to leak from the corners of my eyes. "Oh Steph," Lester said as he kneeled in front of me. "It’s ok. He got away from me, but we’ll get him. I promise. Come on." He stood and took my hand, helping me up. "Let’s go play house." He wiggled his eyebrows and laughed. I narrowed my eyes, which only seemed to make him laugh harder.

Arriving at the safe house, I noticed Ranger’s black Mercedes in the drive and Ranger waiting at the door.

"Hey, Babe. See you made a side trip…" He stopped when he noticed where the bag was from. "… to the Tasty Pastry." Feeling the heat start in my face, I rolled my eyes as I pushed him aside and walked past, ignoring his sultry smile.

I found the kitchen, put the doughnuts on the counter and checked the fridge to make sure there was milk. Sure enough, four gallons were there ready and waiting.

Ranger came up behind me and started to nuzzle my neck. "There’s plenty of food, Babe, but no icing," he chuckled into my ear. He closed the door, spun me around and backed me up against the counter.

Ranger suddenly looked concerned when he saw my face. The look I had must have still registered shock and fear. Shock because of my admission to Lester, and fear because of Charlie Santoni.

"It’s ok. We’ll get him. I won’t let him hurt you. None of us will." His brows furrowed. "What else is wrong, Babe?"

Letting out a big breath, I told him what happened with Lester, since obviously Lester filled him in on Santoni. While I was telling the story, Ranger sported his blank face. When I was finished I couldn’t quite read him…until he started laughing. No just a chuckle or chortle, but laughing so hard he was holding his stomach.

Taking my ever popular pissed off pose, legs spread with hands on hips, I was getting angrier the more he laughed.

"You think it’s funny! Lester knows!!"

Finally calming down, he approached and grabbed me by the waist.

Smiling he said, "Babe, the guys just like to get you flustered. But…" He held up a hand to stop my onslaught. "…that doesn’t mean they don’t find you attractive, either. I’m sure Lester meant what he said, but he did it to get you riled, not to try and hurt you or me. I can talk to the guys if you want, but" he went on, as he placed random kisses on my face and down my neck, "they are still," kiss, " going to know," kiss, " how incredibly beautiful," kiss, "smart," kiss, "funny," kiss, "determined…" kiss.

"Ok," I moaned, "ok. I get," moan, "it."

"I probably shouldn’t tell you this…but…" a small laugh erupted from him, "there’s no tracking reports."

"What?" I’m sure he noticed the fire in my eyes. "He tricked me?"

"Babe, do you want me to talk to them?" He was serious now.

I shook my head then leaned into Ranger’s strong chest. It felt warm and safe to be so close to him, and I couldn’t hold back the tears.

"Sweetheart," he said, " I guess my plan is working if you thought of me before you thought of Morelli." I heard the smile in his voice and smiled myself.

Looking up to meet his eyes, I started to say, "Yes, I guess so…" but was interrupted by the sound of a very young voice.

"Stephie! Stephie!! Where’s Stephie?"

Oh boy! Here we go.

The Switch 6

"Mary Lou?" I said in a loud whisper. Seeing her boys finally sleeping on the king-sized bed, surrounded by pillows for their afternoon nap, I didn’t want to take the chance of waking them. "Mare?"

When she stepped out of the master bath, I just about fell over. The woman who stood before was not my best friend. She couldn’t be, she looked nothing like the Mary Lou I knew and loved.

"Is that you?"

She struck a pose and batted her eyes. "What do you think? Will anyone recognize me?"

"Hell, I don’t recognize you!" And I meant it, I didn’t. The woman I knew as Mary Lou had red hair, teased a mile high, and for the past four years, wore jeans, t-shirts, and was never seen without a diaper bag slung over her shoulder. She was solid, not big…just solid.

The person before me now was completely different. Mary Lou was wearing a long straight black wig, short, short leather skirt, and a top that accentuated her, shall we say, two best assets. This was a little softer, curvier Mary Lou. The only thing that didn’t surprise me was the FMP’s. They were to die for

Circling her, I couldn’t help but let my mouth gape open. "Shit, I haven’t seen you this slutted up since that time we hit a couple of bars in Manhattan after graduation. And the wig, it makes the whole thing." I was starting to giggle and Mary Lou wasn’t far behind me.

She grabbed my arm, pulled me into the bathroom and shut the door. "I know, can you believe it? I mean, look at me?" She twirled and watched herself in all the mirrors. "Wouldn’t Lenny just die if he saw me like this? I think he’d just come right in his pants!" That comment only made us stop giggling and started us full out laughing. "I wonder if Ranger would let me keep it."

That cut my laughing jig short. Narrowing my eyes at her reflection in the mirror, I had to ask, "Who picked out the outfit?"

She was still studying herself in the mirror when she answered. "Oh, I don’t know. The two guys who picked me up, Tank and Bobby, well they said to dress in jeans, a big shirt, coat, and hat when I left. I did of course but I have no clue as to why. I mean, sure I wanted to be comfortable and all, but a coat and ball cap?" She shrugged. "Then when I got in the car with them, they handed me a bag of clothes and said I need to change when I got to the house to get ready to go to Pino’s. So… here I am." She was grinning ear to ear. I think she liked this just a little too much.

"Uh huh," I mumbled. Tank, Bobby and I were going to have a little talk.

"Well, they sent me in here to put a tracking device and panic button on you." Ok, so that wasn’t the complete truth. I headed off Tank on his way to do it himself.

Mary Lou suddenly looked really scared.

"It’s standard procedure. They always have me wear this stuff when I do distraction jobs. It’s a ‘just in case’ thing." She wasn’t convinced. Turning her towards me, I put my both my hands on her shoulders and looked her straight in the eye.

"Mare, you can trust these guys. They are very good at what they do and they won’t let anything happen to you. Take my word for it, ok?" She nodded but still looked like a deer caught in headlights. "I trust them with my life, time and time again. They’ve never let me down." Some of the color returned to her face as she nodded again.

"Good." I smiled, and then went on to tell, and show her, how the devices worked. "Don’t hesitate to use the panic button, but I doubt you’ll ever be more than 2 feet away from any one of them the whole time." We turned to leave the bathroom.

Stopping short I turned back to her. "Oh, and sometimes the guys can be…umm…a little flirtatious. They’re just going to try and make you comfortable that’s all."

"Uh huh," she replied. I knew the devilish look in her eyes very well. "Steph, I may be married and have two kids, but I’m a burg woman and a burg mom. I can handle them." I had no doubt about that.

We made our way into the living room and it took a minute for the guys to notice us standing there. But when they did their conversation came to a complete halt.

I watched as 4 sets of eyes raked Mary Lou from top to bottom…and then up again. I crossed my arms and started tapping my foot on the floor, throwing daggers with my eyes at Ranger. When he finally managed to peel his eyes away and look at me, he flashed his 200-watt smile. In true burg style, I rolled my eyes. In true Ranger style, he chuckled. The Three Stooges didn’t recover as quickly.

Standing at the doorway, I listened to Mary Lou rattle off a list of instructions. "Now, I put the diaper bag in the room with the kids. Kenny should wake up first. Give him a little snack or something. You have to watch Mikey cause he’s potty training and sometimes he thinks he’s finished, but he’s not, and he’ll take off out of the bathroom and run around the house leaving a little peepee trail. Kenny needs to have his favorite blanket with him at all times and likes his G.I Joe underwear the best. Mikey will cry if you don’t cut his PB & J sandwich just right. Cut off the crust, then diagonally. He likes the triangles. Whatever you do, don’t cut squares. I think Mikey is coming down with a cold or ear infection or something, so he’s a little fussy. Sometimes it helps if you warm his apple juice a little." Mary Lou chattered on, but I lost focus after ‘Kenny should wake up first’. It was hard to concentrate with 4 hyena’s laughing down by the Bronco. Finally, I gave Ranger a ‘help me’ look. Gratefully, Tank approached.

"Mrs. Stankovic, we need to get going now. We want to arrive and get settled before the next shift change at the station."

Mary Lou was startled and seemed to remember exactly what she was going to be doing. Tank noticed and took her gently by the arm and guided her down to the car. "Don’t worry. We know what we are doing. Besides, we’d never let anything happen to such a pretty lady like yourself." Tank flashed a gorgeous smile at Mary Lou.

Mary Lou stopped, seemingly unaffected, turned to Tank with a big grin, and said, "Does that mean you let bad things happen to ugly women?" Tank looked startled at first, but soon noticed the shit eatin’ grin on Mary Lou’s face. He turned, looked at me, looked back at her, and then shook his head. I could have sworn I hear him say ‘why me’ as they walked away.

Mary Lou was going to be just fine.

As they drove off, Lester came up besides me on the porch. Slipping his arm around my back, he raised his free arm over his head and started to wave. "They grow up so fast, don’t they?" he said.

I elbowed him in the stomach and went back into the house.

************************

In my dream, there was a large waterfall, cascading down into a clear blue pond. I watched amazed as a naked Ranger dove off one of the cliffs into the sparkling water. Reaching the surface, he swam over to where I was on the edge of the water. Holding out his hand out to me, he said, "Come on, Babe." He was all wet and wearing his wolf grin. Oh yes.

Starting into the water, I reached for his hand, but as soon as I was about to touch it, he was gone. I was standing in a large white basin. My waterfall turned into a faucet and the water was streaming out. Desperately trying to not get caught up in the swirl of water that was going down the drain, I clawed and scratched at the side. It was no use, the surface was too slick and I only ended up sliding down, down, down. Then I had the very sudden urge to pee.

Jerking awake, I bolted upright. A little disoriented at first, I finally remembered where I was. After the guys and Mary Lou left, I decided the kids had the right idea, and crawled into bed with them for an afternoon nap.

Looking around the bed, I could only see Mikey, still soundly asleep. I scanned the room. About mid way through my panic over Kenny, I heard the sound of running water. Looking in the direction of the bathroom, I noticed the door was slightly ajar and the light was on.

Leaping off the bed I ran toward the bathroom, only to feel the squish of wet carpet under my feet about two steps from the door. Oh no. Pushing the door open with my hand, I found the source of the running water. The water in the sink was running, and because of the towel filling it, it hadn’t taken long for the water to start to overflow.

Stepping carefully so as not to slip and fall, I went in and turned off the water. I’d have to come back later to clean up, right now I needed to find Kenny.

Before leaving the bedroom, I double-checked that Mikey was still sound asleep. Yep, a boy after my own heart.

Quickly, but quietly, I left the room. There was a trail of water leading from the bedroom. My keen instincts told me that if I followed the water, I’d find the boy. Sure enough, the water led to the kitchen, which is where I found Kenny…wet blanket in hand, trying to climb a chair he had pushed over to the counter.

"Whoa, my Big Man," I cheerily sang as I swept him up in my arms and twirled around. "What are you trying to do?" I blew a raspberry on his cheek and he started to giggle.

"Stephie!" he slurred. "Mommy gives us snacks after we wake up." Another raspberry, another giggle.

"She does?" I feigned surprise at his declaration. "Oh, I don’t know…" Blowing one last raspberry for good measure, I set him down on the counter. That’s when his wet blanket hit me in the arm.

"Hey, what happened in the bathroom?" I asked as I inspected his blanket.

"I went potty and washed my hands like a big boy." He was glowing, but his face suddenly crumpled in confusion. "But there was no big boy stool."

"I’ll work on that. Next time be sure to come get me to help, ok?" He nodded his head as he thrust his hand in the open box of Cheerios I was holding out for him. He happily sat on the counter, swinging his legs and trying to shove his handful of dry cereal in his mouth.

Taking the wet end of the blanket, I said, "Kenny, I’m going to put this in the dryer so it’s not all wet." His eyes went wide and a complete look of panic crossed his face. Uh oh.

"No." He shook his head vigorously.

"Yes, honey. You’ll get everything all wet and your blanket will get dirty. It will be really quick. You won’t even notice." I started to tug the blanket out of his grasp.

"No!" He just held on with both hands, letting all the Cheerios fall to the floor and shaking his head again.

"Sweetheart, I’ll just put it in the dryer for a few minutes. It will be nice and warm and comfy when it comes out. Won’t that be nice? A nice warm blanky?"

His chin started to quiver, as he cried, "NO!" That did it. He turned on the water works full blast. Finally prying the blanket away from him, I took a step back. Kenny just let it rip then.

"NO! NO! I want my blanky!" He held out both hands, his little fingers opening and closing. He started to lean forward. Grabbing him before he propelled himself off the counter, I tried to get him to stand on the floor. He was having no part of it. Finally, I gave up and just plopped him on his butt.

The only thing that accomplished, was that now, his arms were over his head with his fingers flying open and closed, cries still wailing.

"Sephie."

I spun around at the sound of the small voice.

"Sephie, I potty." Standing in the doorway of the kitchen, Mikey was naked and peeing on the carpet.

"No!" I yelped, probably not my best move. Mikey jumped at my exclamation and started to cry…and continued to pee.

Running to him, I scooped him up and headed to the nearest bathroom. Again, probably not my best move. By the time we were in front of the toilet, Mikey was finished peeing, still crying and I had baby urine streaked down the front of me.

Where in the hell was Lester?

About this time, I realized I had dropped Kenny’s blanket. Oh no. With Mikey resting on my hip, I ran back into the kitchen to find Kenny still on the floor but with a death grip on his blanket. He sat there sniveling, with his thumb in his mouth, surrounded by crushed Cheerios.

"Kenny, give Stephie the blanket." I don’t know if he even heard me over the screams of his brother.

"Kenny." He just shook his head and sucked his thumb harder.

Kneeling in front of him, I tugged on his blanket. Nope, it’s not going to budge.

Suddenly liking Kenny’s plan of action, I sat on the floor, leaned back against the cupboards and swung Mikey around to sit on my lap. Just then, a small stream shot out of Mikey and landed on Kenny.

"Mikey peed on me!" Kenny screamed, and cried harder.

Through all the noise I heard a soft, deep, rumble of laughter.

Giving Lester the best death stare I had, I growled, "Help me."

"I thought I heard some commotion," he said as he smiled.

Calmly walking over, Lester crouched in front of Kenny. "Hey, my main man Ken. What’s happin’?" Kenny just shook his head.

Lester looked at me and grinned again. Oh, I wanted to wipe that grin right off his face.

Standing, Lester made his way over to the refrigerator and pulled out a sippy cup. He handed the cup to Mikey, who gladly took it and started drinking. Great, just what this kid needs, more fluids, but at least he was quiet.

Crouching again in front of Kenny, Lester said, "I got something really cool to show you. Wanna see?" Lester flashed the kid a sneaky smile. Kenny caught the look and started to nod his head.

Lester lifted Kenny off the floor and headed to the laundry room. Good luck, I thought.

Never one to mind my own business, I followed behind, carrying Mikey. Lester started the washer and he and Kenny watched as it filled up. Putting Kenny down on the dryer, Lester took off his shirt and threw it in the water. Both he and Kenny’s head bent down to watch as the shirt started to swirl around.

"Wanna see what yours does, my man?"

Kenny nodded his head and let Lester take off his shirt. This pattern continued with socks and, after Lester put his personal arsenal on the very top shelf out of reach, pants. The two of them stood there in their underwear watching the clothes slosh around.

After a time, Lester said, "Hey." Kenny looked up at him. "What about…" Lester jerked his head toward Kenny’s blanket. Kenny hesitated but eventually nodded and handed the blanket to Lester.

Lester smiled and threw it in the washer. They continued to watch and talked back and forth a bit about things that would pop up then go back down under. Finally, the washer went as far as it would with the lid open. Lester closed the lid and turned to Kenny. "Let’s go get dressed." He picked Kenny off the dryer and turned toward me.

I think I stopped breathing at the sight of Lester in only his underwear. Damn, he had a fine body, probably as good as Ranger’s. Wait until I tell Lula and Connie its briefs. Mikey patted his small hand on my mouth. What? Looking for drool?

"Sephie." He patted again. "Sephie, Lesser and Mikey in undies. Me, no undies."

"Beautiful, why don’t you go and put some undies on our boy there, while Kenny and I go get dressed." He took two steps closer and whispered in my ear; "It’s not always briefs."

The two of them headed out of the kitchen, while I hung back to watch a very fine sculpted ass leave the room.

"You’re staring," said Lester over his shoulder.

"Yeah, Stephie’s staring," mimicked Kenny.

Wonderful. Nothing like training them early.

 Mary Lou's Big Adventure

I don't know how Stephanie does it. How can she be around guys that look like…what they look like, and not melt into puddle every time they smile? Or when they wear those tight t-shirts that shows every rippling muscle? Or stare at those tone, tight butts? I can't even begin to imagine about their…. What am I talking about? Having one fine big daddy of my own at home, I didn't need to look elsewhere. I sighed. With these guys, you couldn't help but look.

"Mary Lou?" Jumping at the sound of my name and someone's hand on my arm, I turned to look into a concerned pair of Latino eyes. Damn, Stephanie sure was lucky. Oh hell, Stephanie deserved a guy like him.

"Oh, sorry Ranger. I just…just…" He's going to think I'm a babbling idiot.

He flashed a smile at me and I just about wet my pants. "Don't worry, I know you're nervous, but I promise you we'll take care of you. And if by some reason we do get separated, you' re wired with a tracking device, panic button and for sound." He patted my hand then helped me out of the Bronco. "The guys are already inside. I'm going to take you in the back way and we'll all be seated at the very last booth. It's fairly quiet in there right now, but I'm not taking any chances."

Nodding, I followed Ranger toward the back of Pino's.

"Oh, Ranger?" He stopped to look at me. Guess he wasn't going to say anything. "I was wondering if you picked out my disguise."

Watching a slow smile form on his face, I could almost swear it was slightly lecherous. "No."

"Oh, Stephanie was wondering who did." I couldn't tell if he was going to say anything so I waited. By the time he responded I think his smile was bigger.

"It was either Tank or Bobby."

"Ok. You think I could, you know, maybe keep it? I think Lenny would really…appreciate it" Now I know his smile grew bigger, and it wasn't even close to being innocent. If asked, I'd have to say he was leering. Well, well…burg mother of two has still got it.

Ranger responded with a nod and turned back toward the building. Hesitating with his hand on the door handle, he twisted around slightly to look back at me. "You think I could get Stephanie in a wig and an outfit?"

Studying him for second, I had to decide, do I tell him she'd jump at the chance or do I let him figure it out on his own. Aww hell, they both worked pretty hard at getting to where they're at, I could help him out.

Leaning in like I had a big secret to tell, I said, "She's always wanted a pair of thigh high boots with stiletto heels, and she's wondered about herself as a redhead." When finished spilling those tid-bits, I winked. Ranger's eyes grew dark and surprisingly, he winked back.

When we reached the table and Tank slid out from the booth and Ranger motioned for me to slid in. Tank joined me and we both had a clear view of the bar and door. I directed a questioning look at Ranger, which I hoped he understood. Steph's always saying these guys have ESP.

"I think it's best if people think you are with Tank. If someone happens to come over, that's the story we'll go with. I don't think it would be a good idea to get the grapevine buzzing about me being seen with a black haired beauty. We don't want to call attention."

Nodding once to Ranger, I then turned my attention to the other two. "So you two thought this outfit was inconspicuous?"

Their eyes slid in my direction, then they looked at each other. I don't think they knew what to say. It was also obvious they didn't know what to expect from me. Steph and I may be best friends, but we are completely different in some areas.

"Smart men. You know when silence is the best way out." Ranger snickered and I threw him a look that said 'what are you laughing at?'. It seemed to quiet him down.

The waitress approached our table and took our orders. It was Missy Bobeck, I remember her from the 9^th grade. Smiling warmly at her, I gave her my order and the guys followed suit. Throughout the whole transaction, Missy kept glancing at me.

I went to say something to Missy, and no sooner had I opened my mouth, than Tank had placed a large arm around my shoulder, giving me a tight squeeze. Leaning in, he nuzzled my neck and brought his free hand up to my cheek, effectively holding my head still.

Whispering in my ear, he said, "Remember your cover." Oh shit! Feeling the warmth of embarrassment creep into my face, I tried to shrink back behind Tank. He moved with me taking his hand from my face and putting it around my waist, and then turned his body so it covered mine completely. To everyone else it probably looked like we were going at it pretty hot and heavy, which is the effect I think he was going for…that and to shut me up. The whole thing only lasted a few seconds, then he let go and we both sat back up.

I tried to act natural as I apologized to Ranger. "I'm so sorry. My big mouth..." Ranger's smart, I'm sure he knew what I'd be like when he asked me to do this, for some things, Stephanie and I are alike. Next, I turned to Tank. "And you G.I. Joe, next time give a girl some warning. Jeez," I said as I elbowed him. Tank just rolled his eyes at me.

I can't believe it, Tank just rolled his eyes at me! "Don't roll your eyes at me young man." I managed in my best 'Mom' tone. Tank's first expression was shock, and then he lowered his eyes to the table like he had been scolded. I guess he had. Ranger and Bobby found this funny. "What are you two laughing at? You want to be in trouble next?" Two more shocked looks. The waitress had left some silverware and napkins on the table. I scooped them up and started to pass them out. "Now, sit here and be quiet while I look for the guy. You're food will be here soon." Surprisingly they did as I said. Hmmm, big ex-army guys respond to Mommy mode…something to remember.

Pino's was still pretty empty, we had about 15 minutes before the shift change, but once our food arrived, the place had started to fill up.

Eating and watching, eating and watching, that was about all we did until Tank said something to Ranger.

"Boss, another salad? How can you keep eating that rabbit food shit?" Tank made a face like he had just swallowed something bad. Bobby chuckled.

I didn't wait for Ranger's response. "Oh, leave him alone. It's good he eats his veggies. You should be more like Ranger. Look at your plate, " I made a circling motion over his plate with my hand. "The only green thing on there is the lettuce on your burger. You need roughage. Helps you process everything through. I'm constantly telling my boys, Lenny too, to eat their veggies. If they don't, they get stopped up and it's just hell."

About that time Bobby's BBQ sandwich fell apart. Raising my hand in the air, I got the attention of one of the other servers. "Could we get more napkins over here please?" I said as I motioned toward Bobby. "They never give enough napkins. You think they'd see me with kids and just figure I needed more, but no, you have to ask." I muttered to no one in particular.

Drawing my attention back to my food, I could feel the guys starting at me. Sure enough, when I looked up, they were. Ranger had a fork half way to his mouth; Bobby looked at me like I had two heads and Tank’s eyebrows were up to his hairline.

"What?" I rolled my eyes. "For crying out loud, I'm surrounded by toddlers all day long. Give me a break. Some habits are hard to break."

The dinner crowd started to thin down and the four of us had been done with our meals for some time. Finally, I made Tank scoot out of the way so I could head to the bathroom. Sensing that I was being followed, I quickly turned to find Tank on my heels. I gave him a ‘now what?’ look and he just shrugged. Putting my hand on his chest, I leaned in and whispered, "I’m perfectly capable of going to the bathroom on my own. I promise not to blow my cover while I’m in the john." He stood there and just shook his head. Fine.

When I came out Tank was standing waiting at the door. He smiled when he saw me. They really were nice guys. Smiling back I said, "Tank, I can’t sit anymore, could we maybe go stand at the bar or something. I’m not used to sitting still."

"Sure thing Little Mama," he responded as he put his arm around my shoulders and guided me to the end of the bar closest to our table. Caught by surprise at the 'Little Mama' comment, I gave Tank a questioning look.

His smile widened, but he didn't say a word. Shrugging, I figured that if he called Steph Bombshell, why couldn't he call me Little Mama?

Tank ordered us two beers and then stood facing the mirror behind the bar, watching people come and go. I stood facing Tank, which gave me a good scope of the room and the front door. Every once in awhile he’d lean down near my ear, like we were having some intimate conversation, and ask me questions about the kids or Lenny, and I’d whisper back.

Some time later, I was focused on Angie Czarnecki and her husband Al. He was a Trenton cop, 30 years on the force. It was a big scandal when they got married because he was 14 years older. Everyone said it wouldn’t last. Now I spotted them in a corner booth and it looked like they were arguing. Oh, I bet this is good. Wishing I could get closer, I took two tiny steps away from the bar. That’s when I saw him.

That small movement was enough for me to see the man standing next to Tank. Oh god, I think that’s him. Trying not to panic, I lowered my eyes to see what kind of shoes he was wearing. Shit, shit, shit. He had on a leather bomber jacket and Cowboy boots, but I still wasn’t sure. I hadn’t seen him up close before. Damn. Then he made the one movement and I knew for sure.

He must have sensed me staring at him because he started to turn my direction. Quickly moving back the two steps, I grabbed Tank by the shirt, brought his face down to mind and kissed him. Tank’s eyes went wide and he tried to pull back, but I held on for dear life, so that he only moved a couple of inches from my face.

"He’s right behind you." I could hear the shake to my voice.

"You sure?" he mouthed.

Nodding, I pulled Tank’s ear to my mouth. "He checked the time on his watch. The watch that’s hanging off his belt." I felt Tank nod his head, at the same time my whole body started to shake.

Tank started to pull back, but stopped. Leaning close to my ear he said, "Let go."

"Huh?"

"Let go of my shirt so I can get us out of here." It sounded like a simple request, but I couldn’t do it. My hands were not cooperating.

"I…I cccan’t."

Right then his arms came around me and he pulled me in for a big hug. "It’s ok." Somehow that worked. Feeling myself relax a tiny bit, I let out a sigh. Tank took the opportunity to grab both my hands and work my fingers free. He spun me around so that I stayed directly in front of him. The sound of his voice made me jump. "Let’s walk back to the table." Keeping his hands on my shoulders, he helped me to keep a calm pace.

Sliding into the booth, I noticed that the three men had some sort of silent communication going on because Bobby suddenly nodded his head and got out of the booth. Just as I was about to stop scooting and settle in, Tank nudged me even further into the corner. Then, as earlier, he leaned over so that his entire upper body covered mine.

Tank had braced himself with his hands, one on the wall and the other on the back of the booth. I could feel the warmth of his breath on my ear as he told me what was going on. "It looks like he’s getting something to go. We’ll stay like this until he leaves. You did good back there." Even though I was still shaky, I managed to croak out a thank you. I could feel the rumble of his laughter.

He must have noticed trembling nerves because his hands left their neutral positions and, once again, encased me in a big bear hug. "Shhh…everything is ok. You can stop shaking now. No one is going to hurt you."

After an eternity ticked by, or maybe it was just a few minutes, Tank pushed off me, but without turning around, looked toward Ranger. Some signal must have been given because Tank then righted himself in the booth with a grin that spread from ear to ear. "Damn, Little Mama, you could give a guy some warning." Giving a weak smile, I came to understand how Steph could trust these guys so much.

With the tension broken, I remembered what just happened. I looked around to see that everyone in our little group was back to where we had started. Glancing nervously toward the bar, I saw that Bad Guy was gone. My questioning gaze fell on Ranger. He nodded once and softly said, "Pete DeFalco."

 The Switch 7

The kids, Lester and I lounged on the couch watching a Veggie Tales video. We all had our tummies full from the fine dinner Lester had whipped up and were just waiting for the guys and Mary Lou to come back from Pino’s. Sitting there, I glanced at Lester, whom had Kenny curled up in his arm, and then I looked down at Mikey, who was curled up in mine.

"Lester?"

"Hmmm?"

"How do you know so much about kids? You know, that whole washer thing. I never would have come up with that."

"I'm the oldest of six, Beautiful. I learned because I didn't really have a choice, and besides it was fun." I could tell by the huge smile on his face, he was sincere. "Trying to reason with a hysterical 4 year old doesn't usually get you too far."

I could see the logic in that. Trying to reason with a hysterical 31-year-old bombshell bounty hunter yielded the same results.

Turning my attention back to the video, I heard the click of the front door and Mary Lou’s voice.

"Boys?" The kids catapulted from the couch and ran into the waiting arms of their mother. They hugged and kissed and did all that mushy stuff.

I was getting my own mushy greeting from Ranger when Mary Lou interrupted. "Uh Steph? How did Kenny get a black eye?"

Letting my forehead drop to Ranger’s chest, my insides cringed. In the distance I could hear Lester’s chuckle. Turning, I faced Mary Lou.

"Well, Mare…" I started, "it’s like this…I was in the kitchen with the boys, realizing it was probably time for a potty check with Mikey, so… we went off to the bathroom." I let out a big sigh and my shoulder’s drooped. "When we got back, Kenny was rolling around on the floor trying to pry a suction cup off his eye. And …" I motioned to Kenny, "you can see the outcome."

I didn’t feel like mentioning that Lester, once again, saved the day by leading Kenny to believe that it was cool to have a black eye. Something about making you look big and tough. All I did was roll my eyes.

Now, to make matters worse, Tank and Bobby were over admiring Kenny’s shiner. Mary Lou and I just looked at each other and flashed the international facial expression for "Men".

Kenny took this opportunity to tell everyone about his lesson with the washer. Closing my eyes, I braced for what I knew was coming.

"… then we took off our pants… then Lester asked if my blanket could go in…then I put it in and then it went around and up and down and I saw my red socks and Lester's shirt!" He giggled. Here it comes. "Lester and I were in our underwear Mommy. We watched the clothes go round and round." He stopped as the adults nodded and smiled politely. There is a god.

"Me no undies." Heads turned to look at Mikey. "Me peepee. No undies."

Uh oh.

"Yeah," continued Kenny, "Mikey peed on Stephie and me. Lester and I went to get clothes and Stephie stared." He said it like he was giving the weather report, straight faced and matter of fact.

Heads turned to look at me.

Ranger's eyebrow went up in question, Lester crossed his arms over his chest and sported a Cheshire cat grin, Bobby slightly scowled, and Tank and Mary Lou looked like they could barely contain themselves. I turned bright red.

Breaking the mood, Ranger suggested that Mary Lou and the kids could call Lenny from the bedroom phone while he filled us in about Pino’s. Personally, I couldn’t wait to hear Mary Lou’s version. But first I had to face Ranger.

Coming up close to me, Ranger whispered, "I can't wait to hear this one." He had a smirk on his face. He was laughing at me…again. He didn't act like this when he thought Bobby was involved.

Ranger leaned in closer. "Babe, I'm not happy about it, but I'm sure it was nothing. I love you. I trust you. I trust Lester or any of the guys."

I gave him my best "Oh really?" look.

"Bobby was different and that's behind us." He nuzzled my ear and I relaxed into him. "Come on. We'll go over what we learned at Pino's."

Tank got down to business and spoke first. "The guy’s name is Pete DeFalco. Our Little Mama did good with the ID." He grinned from ear to ear when he said that. I raised my eyebrows in question but was ignored. "I made some calls on the way back here and found out that DeFalco is a cop, and rumored to be dirty. Since it was a Mitrani connected dealer that was killed, maybe he’s in with Ramos?"

That didn’t make sense to me and I said so. "Didn’t Bobby say that Ramos has been getting too much attention from the cops with recent arms shipments?" Nods were given all around. "Well then, wouldn’t DeFalco try to make sure that didn’t happen if he was in with Ramos?"

"If Mitrani has a cop in their pocket, why use him to dispose of a street dealer? He’d be a hell of a lot more useful for other things." Piped up Bobby.

The light bulb over my head went on. I knew exactly who I could ask. Standing quickly, I headed toward the kitchen. Ranger’s voice stopped me.

"Babe?"

Continuing on, I spoke over my shoulder. "Just need something from the kitchen." Ha! They’d buy that. This was something I needed to do alone, without any help. Finding my pocketbook where I left it on top of the refrigerator, I pawed through the contents until I found what I was looking for.

Flipping open my cell phone, I quickly dialed the number I had in my hand. I chewed on my bottom lip as the phone rang. After the third ring, it was finally picked up.

"Hi. This is Stephanie Plum...umm…I don't know if you remem…Oh, good, good, thanks…well, I was wondering if we could meet, have a cup of coffee or something?" I held my breath waiting for the answer. "Great…ahh, that's perfect. I'll meet you there. Give me a couple hours…ok, thanks."

Ok, now that I have that set, how to get out of the house without the entourage. Another idea popped into my head that had me diving back into my pocketbook. Flipping open my phone again, I dialed another number.

"Hi. This is Stephanie Plum. I need a ride."

*****************

Ranger hadn't left my side since coming back from Pino's. Finally, I scared him off when I said I was going to check on Mary Lou and the boys. It wasn't the boys that scared him, it was the implied girl time between me and Mary Lou that did the trick. Also, I needed to tell someone what I was doing, sort of. Mary Lou would eventually crack when the guys really put the pressure on, but that's ok. I only needed a small head start.

Mary Lou sat on the bed with Mikey in her arms, gently rocking him, while Kenny busied himself with coloring.

"Hey, Mare." The wig and clothes were gone; she looked her normal self.

"Hey, Steph. We just got done talking to Daddy, didn't we," she said as she went to smother her youngest son in kisses. Giggling and squirming ensued. Mikey finally broke free and went on to empty the contents of Mary Lou's suitcase on the floor. He did the same thing to the bottom kitchen cupboards earlier when I left him alone, but I figured this was her stuff so she'd have to put it all back.

"Lenny wants to know if he can come stay here with us. What do you think? Will Ranger let him?" By the look on her face I could tell she really missed Lenny.

"We'll ask him Mary Lou. I'm sure he could figure something out." She gave me a sad smile in response. Time to change the subject.

"I came in to find out the details at Pino's." Her eyes brightened at that. Oh, this was going to be good.

"Oh, Steph…Wow. It was something!" She paused to take a deep breath. This was a signal to let me know that she had lots to say and wasn't going to stop until she was done. "Well, we got there and Ranger came to get me out of the car, but he scared me because I was off in lala land thinking about how you could be around all the guys and not constantly drool. I mean, they are hot, but then I got to thinking how I had my own hottie at home."

Eww, no details, no details, please, please.

"Anyway, Ranger jolted me back to reality and when I looked in his eyes, I saw concern and he had a soft look on his face. Shit, I almost wet myself! Steph, he's wonderful and DAMN he's hot. I can tell he really cares about you. You are so lucky."

Mary Lou is my best friend for a reason, and she just reminded me why. She wasn't being petty or jealous. She was sincerely happy that Ranger and I had found each other.

"Did he say something to you?" I asked. She nodded. "Well! Spill it!"

We were sitting on the bed facing each other. After quickly glancing at the kids, she leaned in and said, "Well, I asked him if he picked out my outfit. He said no. I asked if I could keep it. He said yes. Then he asked," she leaned in further, "if he could get YOU dressed up in an outfit." She paused, waiting for my reaction.

My eyes were just about to bug out of my head. "He what?" All she did was nod slowly. "What did you tell him?" Now I was nervous.

She leaned in closer. "I told him about the boots." Huh? "And the red hair." Oh. My. God.

"You did not!" She just nodded her head slowly again and smiled.

When Mary Lou and I were around 12 years old, we had stayed at her Aunt’s house one weekend. Her older cousin, April, had just turned 21. We thought she was the epitome of adulthood. That Saturday night, while she was in the shower, we tried on her thigh high boots. Of course they came up to our hips, but we strutted around for a bit, then watched in awe, as she got ready. She was very pretty, but when she put those boots on and did up her red hair, she was hot. When her date picked her up, we thought he was going to lose it right there on the porch. That night Mary Lou and I stayed awake for hours talking about how when we were grown up, we’d dress like that and have men fall at our feet because we would be so breathtaking in our thigh high boots and red hair.

But here we sit, two brunettes in sneakers. Heck, I couldn’t even stay blonde for more than a couple weeks.

I flopped back on the bed. "Oh god Mary Lou, why did you tell him that."

"Because, maybe that stud you have hooked, will buy you a pair and you two can…ya know." She whispered that last part.

"If you only knew," I moaned.

She wasn’t going to let that go by and she didn’t. With one look, she had me whispering the details of Ranger’s mission to wipe out my bad memories, being sure to cover the two successes. When I was finished she flopped back on the bed panting.

"Damn, Steph. If you ever kick that man to the curb, I’m gonna kick your ass."

"If I’m ever stupid enough to kick that man to the curb, you can kick my ass."

We looked at each other and broke out in giggles. The boys took notice of our girly fit and joined us on the bed.

Tank knocked on the door, and then stuck his head in. "Hey, who here wants to eat popcorn and watch a movie?"

"I do. I do." Kenny yelled as he jumped from the bed. Mikey followed right behind. Tank stepped in and picked up one child in each arm, throwing them over each of his shoulders.

"Hey guys, look at these two sacks of potatoes I found in the bedroom!" We heard him exclaim as he went down the hall.

This was perfect. "Mare, I need you to keep Ranger and the guys busy."

She looked confused for a split second but ended up narrowing her eyes. "Why? You’re not going to do something stupid are you?"

I wasn’t even going to bother wasting a fake innocent look on her. She’d see right through it.

"I have to meet someone. He might be able to help us."

"Then take one of the guys or at least tell Ranger." Yeah, cause he’d let me go alone.

"Mare, I can’t. I don’t want to spook this guy, you know, make anything seem more than it is. If I go in there with muscle, I might not find out what I need to know."

Mary Lou’s face was scrunched and frowning.

"Mary Lou. I’m a bounty hunter. I can take care of myself." Her face eased a little at that. Christ, she still thought I was Wonder Woman too. We’re both certifiable.

Hesitantly, she nodded her head but paused and narrowed her eyes again. "I’m not going to lie to anyone, Steph."

"Great. Ok. I don’t want you to lie. I’m going to go take a bath while you sit here for a few minutes and figure out how to ask Ranger about Lenny staying here. Then, after about 5 minutes or so, you can go out and ask him." Her face scrunched again.

Walking over to the nightstand, I pulled out a pen and paper from the drawer and wrote down some information.

Handing it to her I said, "Here. If Ranger asks where I’m at, you give him this. Ok?" She nodded again. "Damn! I left my pocketbook in the kitchen." I spied Mary Lou’s in the corner. "I’m going to take yours. Your phone in it?" Burg women’s pocketbooks were all supplied with pretty much the same stuff. You could easily interchange without too much difficulty.

"Yeah, but…"

"Ok, thanks." I grabbed it up, ran into the bathroom, shut the door, and opened the window. I was on my way.

Event though the safe house was in an area of upscale Trenton I wasn’t familiar with, I had seen a seven eleven close by and noted the street name. At the time I was thinking about how convenient it was for ice cream runs. It served a different purpose now.

I made it to the seven eleven parking lot within the time frame I had given my ride. Just as planned, he was sitting there in his car waiting for me. But before going over to the car, I went into the store and bought, what I hoped, might be my ticket if anyone unexpected showed up.

Finished with that task, I dashed over to the car, opened the back door, and slid in.

"Hi. Ready?"

He nodded and drove out of the parking lot.

The Switch Chapter 8

Jason parked the cab across from the Sunshine Café. It was a small place in Deal. I'm sure it was picked specifically for its location and size.

"Steph, this doesn't have anything to do with what was going down the last time I gave you a ride, does it?" The concern in Jason's eyes was genuine, but he also looked a bit wary.

"No," I said as I smiled gently. Last time Jason dropped me off, he was willing to stand up to Bobby. That time I knew he wasn't in any danger. This time, I couldn't be so sure. "I'll be fine." Reaching over the backseat, I patted his shoulder. "My friends will be along to pick me up shortly." No doubt the guys had already put the screws to Mary Lou. When I left, I could tell she wasn't going to last long…if at all.

I started pawing through Mary Lou's pocketbook to see if she had any cash. Guess I should have asked her before I left. "How much do I owe you?" I asked, while pulling a set of large, brightly colored plastic keys from the bag.

"Aww, Steph. I can't charge you."

Looking up sharply, I narrowed my eyes at the man in the front seat. "What did I tell you before? You can't make any money by giving away free rides." Never mind I didn't know if I had any money.

Jason blushed slightly. "I know, I know. But…" He turned a brighter red.

"But what?"

"Well…you’re my damsel." Huh? He must have noticed the confused look on my face, because he hurriedly went on. "See, when I went home that night I picked you up from Bucca's, I told my girlfriend about what had happened." He was turned toward the backseat to look at me, but lowered his eyes after he said that, almost like he didn't know if he should have told anyone.

"And." I encouraged.

"And, well, she said I rescued a damsel in distress." If this guy became any more red, his face was going to burst into flames. I had the feeling that there was something else he wasn't telling, so I waited. "You know, she thought it was exciting," he managed to spit out finally, but so softly I barely heard him.

Ohhh. I had to hold back a chuckle. Nothing I could imagine would probably even come close to the version he told his girlfriend. Nothing I wanted to imagine would probably touch on just how excited his girlfriend had been.

When he looked up and met my eyes, the look on his face was so…so embarrassed, and so adorable at the same time, I had the urge to pinch his cheeks.

"So, you see, I wouldn't feel right charging you…you being my damsel and all." His face may still have been red, but now he was sporting a teasing grin.

After rolling my eyes at him, I got out of the cab thinking, "If he only knew how many damsel rescuers I really had."

My intention to walk over to the driver's side window to thank him was stopped short. Jason was out of the cab waiting for me.

"What are you doing?" If something went wrong, I did not want to be responsible for Jason getting hurt. I know his girlfriend would not be excited about that.

"I'm going with you," he said. The "duh" was unspoken.

"Jason, I'm just meeting a friend. There's no need. I'm fine." Putting on the best innocent face I had, I also tried to will him to believe me.

"Steph, I don't know you very well, but you're a terrible liar."

Just then, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a large man walk out of the café. Turning to look, I found it was exactly who I expected. Patrick was headed over toward the cab. My conversation with a supposed unknown cabby must have been taking suspiciously long.

"Really, I'm ok." I must have sounded a bit too frantic, because Jason looked over to eye the approaching stranger.

When Patrick was still a few lengths away, Jason turned to face him. Oh no. This time it was my turn to protect Jason. He just didn't know it.

Quickly, I stepped in front of Jason and flashed a huge smile at Pat. Might as well try to start off friendly. My eyes widened as Pat started to reach around to his back. Crap.

Coming up to stop just in front of me, Pat smiled, then looked at Jason as he pulled out his wallet. "How much does she owe you?"

Christ! Does every man on the face of the earth think I can't pay for a cab ride? So, I didn't have any money, but I did have a nice set of 3 matchbox cars in the bottom of the pocketbook I could trade, but Pat didn't know that.

"No charge," was the serious reply from behind me.

Pat's smile faded a bit and he furrowed his brow in a silent question.

All I did was continue to smile brightly. "He's a friend," I said as a way of explanation.

Pat did a back and forth glance between Jason and me, but then ended up shrugging his shoulders and shaking his head as a smirk appeared on his face. If I didn't know better, I think he found me amusing.

Putting his wallet way, Pat said, "All right. Come on, Trouble." Who? Me?

He started to turn but paused as he spoke, "Yes, you." This is when he noticed that Jason had moved forward, right on my tail. Pat shot me a look that said, "What's this?"

"Steph's not going alone." I had to give Jason some credit. He sounded awfully confident for someone who was about 5 inches shorter and one hundred pounds lighter than the guy in front of us.

Pat looked at me with both eyebrows raised. Slowly, I closed my eyes and let out a big sigh. Why me?

"How do you do it?" asked Pat as he laughed.

With my eyes still closed, I softly responded, "I. Don't. Know." More laughter. Great.

Once we entered the small café, I turned to Jason. "Please, sit at the counter and wait for me." He looked about to argue so I continued on. "Jason, on this you have to trust me. You don't want in on the conversation. Please, wait at the counter."

Pat had stopped and watched the interchange. Jason took the opportunity to address Pat. "She sits where I can see her." It wasn't a question. Although I don't know what Jason could do about it if Pat said no, or if something happened, for that matter. Pat nodded once. Phew. Things were going well, don't you think?

Finally, Pat motioned to a booth and we made our way back. As we approached, I noticed that Pat and I were not going to be alone. Sitting in the booth was Alexander Ramos.

I stopped in my tracks. Pat had to go around me to scoot into the booth opposite Ramos and against the wall, leaving me at the open end of the seat. Gathering myself, I lowered myself next to Pat.

Alexander gave Pat a questioning glance.

"I promised the kid," he said as he jerked his head toward Jason. Alexander turned to look, then shrugged his shoulders in a "whatever" gesture. I'm sure Pat wasn't the only goon present…not by a long shot.

"Hello, Cutie. Pat here said you called him." I hadn't realized the numbers Pat gave me were numbers to get to Alexander. Next time I'll be more clear about who I want to talk to. Wait. Did I just say next time?

"Yes, I did call Pat. I was, umm, hoping…See I have this friend in trouble…"

Alexander cut me off. "That happens to you a lot." He was teasing. I could tell by the huge grin on his face and I didn't need to even look at Pat to know he was grinning too.

"Yeah, well, anyway…I have this friend and she witnessed someone being shot. And well, we kinda heard the guy that died was connected. " Stopping, I studied Alexander's face. He was definitely concentrating on what I was saying, but he still looked more amused than anything else.

Ok, just get on with it Plum. "I was hoping you'd tell me if the guy who did the shooting was connected too." There, I said it.

"First, who's the dead guy, Cutie?" the smile in Alexander's eyes and voice still evident.

"Teddy Baxter."

It wasn't their response that made me think I hit a nerve, it was more their extreme lack of response.

"You know who shot Teddy Baxter?" The tone of this question was dramatically different than the last. Having no idea what to do, since I obviously hit on something, I just sat there stunned.

We all sat quietly for some time before Alexander spoke again. "So cutie, if you tell me the name of the shooter and I help you, what's in it for me?"

Ah, so we're back to this. This I was prepared for, but if he really believed I was stupid enough not to understand, that by giving him the name of the shooter, I was the one helping him, he was wrong. His lack of reaction to the dead guy gave away his hand. But for right now, I needed to play along.

Reaching into my bag, I pulled out the little box of goodies I bought at the Seven-Eleven and, keeping them under my hand, slid them across the table. His hand came out to meet mine, but when I didn't let go, he looked up at me in surprise.

Leaning in I whispered, "Don't think for one minute I don't know who is helping who." His expression changed from shock to an almost appreciative grin.

"Good for you, Cutie." For some reason, I got the feeling he really meant it, too.

Letting go of the box on the table, I watched as his face, once again, changed to a look of surprise. What? Did I get the wrong brand? Looking down, I immediately recognized what the problem was.

Sitting in the middle of the table was a box of Rug Rats Band-Aids…waterproof.

Pat's laughter snapped me out of my confused daze and I snatched up the box and apologized. "Oh, sorry. I have them here," I mumbled into the huge, now scary, pocketbook I carried, "somewhere." Finally I pulled out the pack of Camels and blushed a bright red.

Alexander gave a sigh of relief and started to laugh as he took the pack from me. "You know Cutie, you should reconsider running off with me to get married. I bet we'd have a lot of fun and not so many of your friends would end up in trouble." Why did I think just the opposite would be true? I blushed more and looked down at the table.

"Sorry, she has plans with someone else," said the deep voice from behind Alexander.

The Switch 9

"What do you mean when you said I have other plans?" I asked Ranger. He sat stoically while driving the Bronco. He was in his zone. Conversation didn't exist in "the zone," so I don't know why I even tried.

Fine. Wiggling in my seat until I was comfortable, I thought back to what took place at the diner after Ranger and the guys showed up.

"Sorry, she has plans with somebody else," said Ranger.

No one was moving and I was becoming very nervous. Alexander had narrowed his eyes and Pat put both his hands under the table. Something needed to be done.

"Well, it looks like my only plans right now are to entertain," I said with a sigh.

Ranger looked down at me and smiled and then reached over and snagged a chair from a nearby table. Flipping it around, he sat slowly and casually draped his arms over the back of the chair. Still smiling , he said, "That's part of your charm, Babe. So, how are you entertaining these fine gentlemen tonight? They seemed to be having a good time when I walked up."

Groaning, I let my forehead fall to the table. Alexander wasted no time in speaking up.

"Cutie here, tried to give me a box of kids’ Band-Aids," he said while chuckling.

"Babe?" I didn't need to lift my head because I knew how Ranger's face would look. There would be a mix of confusion and amusement. "Babe?"

Lifting my head, I looked at Ranger. Yep, amused. "I was trying to give Alexander a pack of cigarettes. I grabbed the wrong box." Made sense to me. Ranger just raised an eyebrow. "Not my pocketbook," I offered. That at least got me a nod of understanding.

"What were you buying Ramos off for this time, Babe? I'm right here." This elicited laughs from all three men at my table and someone in the next booth. Huh?

Turning around, I saw Tank sitting behind me. I righted myself and noticed that Bobby was over talking to Jason. That at least made me feel somewhat better. Jason would be ok.

Ranger was still waiting for an answer and as much as I wanted to get the hell out of here, I dreaded getting down to business.

"I was hoping that Alexander could answer a question for me."

"And?" Ranger asked as he fixed his gaze on Alexander. With that, Pat tensed again. God, I hope he doesn’t have an itchy finger. I didn't think he'd hurt me, but I held no illusions about where his loyalties lay.

"Cutie thinks I can give her information on a certain individual who may have committed a crime."

Not knowing what Ranger had heard before he walked up, I had to make sure that he knew Alexander didn't know the name of the shooter.

I quickly cut in. "Yes, I told Alexander that a friend of mine witnessed Teddy Baxter's murder. I was hoping he could tell me if the shooter was connected," I said while looking at Ranger. Then I turned my gaze to Alexander. "But it seems they are as interested in the name of the shooter, as I am in his affiliations."

Everyone at the table knew I just gave Ranger the information he needed to continue the negotiations. It was clear the situation was give and take on both sides now.

Alexander stared at me for a long time before another look of appreciation appeared on his face. "Good for you, Cutie." Again, it was full of sincerity. I felt a huge wave of relief.

Turning to Ranger, Alexander said, "I think we can help each other."

After that, Ranger filled Alexander and Patrick in on what we knew, including giving up Pete DeFalco. They, in turn, told us that Teddy Baxter was a plant in the Mitrani family, put there by Ramos.

Ramos was aware that the Mitrani family was trying to crowd in on his gun running, although he used the word "business." They planted Teddy as someone from Ramos' camp that could be bought. Teddy was to feed false information to the Mitrani's in hopes they could flush out whoever was causing the problem. They didn't like it much when Teddy turned up dead.

"You got a line on the cop?" Pat asked.

"No. We have a meeting in an hour with someone who might," Ranger replied.

News to me, but I didn't want anyone else to know that. I had a sinking feeling I knew who we'd be meeting anyway.

"Good," said Alexander, "I want DeFalco dealt with, but I would prefer to be distant. We could help protect your friend."

Ranger nodded once and then stood. "If you could put some men on this address," he handed over a slip of paper, "and have a man and woman decoy by morning. We have the woman and kids but would like to take the husband out of the equation as well. We want to maintain a normal appearance. Tonight he'll stay and Stephanie will take the woman's place."

I will?

Ranger continued. "The kids are rumored to be out of state. Tank can fill you in and give you pictures of the two men to watch for."

"Two men?" asked Pat.

"Yeah, seems Bombshell has an old skip after her. Need to watch out for him too," added Tank. Both men had the nerve to laugh. It was time to go.

I lifted out of the booth. "Thank you…both," and nodded to each man.

When I turned to leave I realized I had one more person to thank. Striding up to Jason, I couldn't help but smile. He and Bobby were sitting at the counter talking like two old friends. Jason was going to be a great doctor as long as he didn't lose his natural, easy-to-talk-to manner.

"Jason, " I said as I approached.

Both he and Bobby turned, stood and smiled.

"I just want to thank you for the ride." Jason's smile got bigger, but then unexpectedly clouded. Ranger had stepped up behind me. No way was he going to intimidate my new friend. Besides, I never knew when I might need a free cab ride.

"Bobby, Ranger, could you excuse me a second?" Not waiting for an answer, I pulled Jason away and out the front door.

"Thanks again for the ride…and staying. You didn't have to do that." I wished he hadn't.

"We covered that already. No problem. Well, I gotta go. You seem to be in good hands," he said as he motioned towards the diner. Looking back inside, I had to roll my eyes. Not only were Bobby and Ranger standing there staring at me, but also Tank, Alexander and Pat. They were all just standing there, in a row…watching. Christ.

"Don't worry." My head snapped back to look at Jason. "I'll still give you a ride anytime you need one." Bless his heart. He had no idea what he was offering. He leaned over and gave me a peck on the cheek. Did he have a death wish? With that, he got in his car and started off.

"See ya, Damsel," was shouted through his window.

"What are you smiling about, Babe?" Startled at the sound of Ranger's voice, I opened my eyes to find out where we were. Pino's. Just as I expected.

"Oh, nothing. Just thinking about Jason." Ranger's features darkened. "He's going to make a good doctor one day," I said cheerily. "As long as he keeps that openness about him. He's easy to talk to."

"Bobby told me he refused to leave when you met Ramos."

I nodded as Ranger helped me out of the Bronco. "Yep. I tried to get him to leave, but he wouldn't. Can you believe he told Pat that I had to sit where he could see me?" Starting to softly laugh, I said, "He seems to think I'm his damsel to rescue."

Ranger stopped short. "Oh?" Just had to keep yammerin' didn't I?

"Yes," I sighed. "Remember that night at Bucca's? Of course you do…anyway, he drove the cab I left in. We stopped at McDonald's and he told me about medical school and his girlfriend," I said, drawing out the word so Ranger got the point.

"Tonight, he said he couldn't charge me for the ride and he wasn't leaving because…" I stopped as I felt my face turn red and ended up looking at the ground.

Ranger put a finger under my chin and lifted my face so I could meet his eyes. "Because?"

The smile he had playing on his face started to piss me off. "Because, he thinks of me as his damsel, a damsel in distress that he rescued. At least that’s what his girlfriend thought when he told her the story." My voice had become quite loud by the end. "And I don’t think it’s funny that all these…these…MEN…feel they need to take care of me."

Ranger only smiled bigger. Putting my index finger to his chest, I started to poke. "Don’t go all Mr. Smiley on me. You’re one of them! I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I got to Ramos just fine didn’t I?"

Instantly, Ranger’s smile vanished and his look took on a much angrier appearance. Shit. I really needed to learn when I was ahead so I could stop. Oh, who am I kidding, it still wouldn’t stop me.

"Look," I started, as I put my hand flat on Ranger’s chest, "I know we haven’t talked about that yet, and I’m sure we will, but let’s just go in and talk to Joe, Ok?" Turning, I headed toward the door but Ranger stopped me.

"Stephanie," he said as he reached out and grabbed my arm. "I know you can take care of yourself. That's why you'll be staying with Lenny tonight. We need someone inside with him. But there are situations that I won't even go into without backup. Meeting with Ramos is one of them. It has less to do with skill and more to do with staying alive."

My eyes were wide with surprise. Ranger's turned more serious.

"I want you alive, Stephanie."

All I could do was nod as Ranger ushered us through the door.

Once inside, Ranger went straight for the back booth and sat with his back against the wall, of course. Joe showed up about 10 minutes later and slid into the booth next to me.

"Hey, Cupcake." He leaned over and gave me a quick kiss, then turned to Ranger. "Ranger."

If Ranger was upset about the kiss, he didn’t show it. He was wearing his blank face when he nodded to Joe.

"What’s up, Manoso?" Now Joe had his cop face in place. This will get us nowhere fast and I was going to cut in when I noticed Ranger nodded at me. Huh? The wide-eyed surprised look was back. Ranger gave me a small smile and another nod.

"Joe," I said as I placed a hand on his arm. "I…we, need some information." His look of concern when he first turned to face me had disappeared, and now the cop face was back.

"What is it this time, Steph?" Joe said, in an almost exasperated sigh.

Deciding to ignore the obvious tone to his question, I continued on. "We need to know anything you have on Pete DeFalco."

Joe's whole body subtly tensed. I wouldn’t have noticed if I didn't know him as well as I did and hadn’t been touching his arm.

He narrowed his eyes at me. "Why would you need to know about DeFalco?"

"We think he's involved with something we're working on." Not knowing how much information to give out, I was going to try and skirt the details as much as possible.

His face grew very dark before he spoke again. "Whatever it is, stay out of it, Cupcake," he suggested. He turned his look to Ranger. "Don't encourage her. You don't want a piece of this." Joe stood to leave.

"Joe!" I spat as quietly as I could, not wanting to draw attention. Speaking through clenched teeth, I decided to spill a detail I knew would force him to help. "Mary Lou, Lenny, and the kids are in trouble."

His shoulders slumped in defeat as he slid back in to sit down. He started shaking his head. "How do you do it? How the fuck do you do it?" These were not lighthearted questions. He was not happy.

In an angry whisper I leaned in close and said, "Look Joe, for right now let's just move past the fact you think I'm incompetent and focus on what needs to be done. Can you do that? For the next five minutes can you pretend, and treat me like an adult?"

Joe turned on me in a barely controlled rage. "It's rumored that DeFalco is being investigated by Internal Affairs. He's dirty, probably mob related, and they are trying to prove it. He's also missing, hasn't shown up for work in the past three days. Now," he paused to take a deep breath, "do you want to tell me why the Stankovic family is in trouble and what it has to do with DeFalco?"

No, but that was a fair question and I wasn’t' sure how to answer it. However, I knew that Joe was close to shutting down on us completely. I needed to give him something. When I glanced at Ranger, he was no help. It looked like he was leaving it up to me.

"Mary Lou saw DeFalco kill Teddy Baxter," I let out in a rush.

For about 3 seconds, Joe didn't move, didn't react. I knew what was coming, and about how long I had before he blew. Placing my hand on his arm again, I leaned in and spoke quietly. "We couldn't go to the cops, Joe. DeFalco is a cop. We don't know how deep this goes. Lenny found a note on their front door telling Mary Lou to keep her mouth shut and her family would stay safe. We believe DeFalco left it. We have Mary Lou and the kids in a safe place. Lenny will join them tomorrow. Now we need to find DeFalco." Joe opened his mouth to say something, but I cut him off. "So we can turn him in."

We all sat quietly for a few minutes. Joe was stewing, I could tell, but I was clueless as what to do about it. Besides that, it wasn't really my responsibility anymore, was it?

I jumped slightly when Joe finally spoke. "I'll see what else I can find out." He stood again, body stiff with anger. "You know how to reach me if you need my help." After taking a couple of steps, he stopped and turned back to me. "Be careful."

Ranger parked the Bronco about a block away from Mary Lou's. He grabbed me by the back of my neck and pulled me in for a drugging kiss. I finally broke the kiss so I could breathe.

"I would rather have you in bed with me tonight," he growled.

Smiling against his lips, I said, "I'd rather be in your bed tonight." With an urgent need, he captured my mouth again. We went at it, tongues battling, until Ranger pulled my head back and started placing soft open-mouthed kisses down my neck and then back up to my ear. His hot breath on my ear made me shiver.

"Patrick is waiting outside your door," he whispered. Damn, he even made that sound sexy.

Wait. Patrick? Huh? I tried to turn my head, but Ranger held it still as he worked the sensitive spot below my ear. Giving up, I melted into him and let out a breathy moan. He responded with his own deep rumble.

Breaking off suddenly, he looked me in the eyes. "You better go." He may have said the words, but his eyes and body said something different.

"Maybe one of the guys could put on a wig," I suggested, my voice a bit husky. Ranger closed his eyes and moaned, while bringing his forehead to touch mine.

"Not a good idea, Babe." He pulled back sighing, his eyes a little less dark now. "You need to get going."

One last quick kiss and I was on my way.

I pulled Mary Lou's minivan into her garage. Don’t ask me how they managed to get it, but it was waiting for me when I stepped out of the Bronco.

Entering the kitchen, I threw my pocketbook, well, Mary Lou's pocketbook, on the kitchen table.

"Honey, I'm home," I yelled out.

Lenny appeared from around the corner. "Hi, Steph." He sounded sad. I went up to him and put my hand on his shoulder.

"It will be ok. Everything is going to turn out fine. You'll see." Lenny was a sweet guy and although I never understood Mary Lou’s attraction to him, I thought they made a really great couple.

The night was uneventful and morning came all too quickly for my taste. The plan was that I was to drive the minivan to the mall and switch with the female decoy, who would drive it back and stay at the house. Lenny would leave the house in his car and meet someone who would take him to the safe house. Something was said about it being harder for DeFalco, if he was watching, to go after both of us. Chances are he'd be after me and then, after the switch at the mall, the decoy. Ramos' men would stay on me until the mall, then also follow the decoy.

I was to head back to the safe house as quickly as possible…as quickly as a stop at McDonald's would allow, I thought to myself as I pulled in the parking lot under those beautiful golden arches.

There was no doubt in my mind that someone was tracking the car that the decoy had left for me. If it were Ranger and guys electronic device, they'd know what I was doing. If it was Ramos, well, too bad. I wasn't going to take that long, just running in for some breakfast. Everything went down as planned anyway. The woman I met in the mall's public bathroom was my size and we didn't worry too much about hair because I had been wearing a ball cap in and out of Mary Lou's house. Once we changed clothes, we headed in opposite directions.

Coming out of McDonald's, I couldn't help but admire the nice sleek BMW I was driving. It was black and I wondered if was one of Ranger's and if he'd let me keep it.

I wasn't more than a few feet from the car when I heard the sound of screeching tires and crunching metal coming from the street. A rear end accident had taken place at the stoplight. Munching on my breakfast sandwich, I stood and watched as people gathered and pulled out cell phones.

Ha! I thought with smug satisfaction, for a change it wasn't a car I was driving.

Just then, I felt something hard hit the back of my head. My last thought before I hit the ground and the world went black, was that I never got to finish my breakfast.

The Switch 10

My head really hurt, really, really hurt. When I tried to open my eyes, everything was blurry. It felt like I was moving and if it didn’t stop, I was going to throw up. Snapping my eyes shut, I tried to move, testing each part of my body. All my fingers, toes, legs and arms seemed to be in working order. Now if I could just get my eyes focused. But I felt the pull of blackness again and decided to give in.

Sometime later I woke again, and this time when I opened my eyes, things were much clearer. I was still in a moving car, my head still hurt, and I had no idea how long I was out…either time. Swell.

The car came to a sudden, screeching halt and I rolled off the back seat onto the floorboard.

"Umph…Ow!" I breathed.

"So, you stupid bitch, you’re finally awake?" came the sneer from the front seat. My blood ran cold at the sound of his voice. Santoni. This was not good and from the smell of this car, I was not in the BMW, which meant no tracking device.

When I tried to move, my hand hit something. I felt around quickly and realized it was Mary Lou’s pocketbook. Snatching it tightly, I held on to it for dear life. Whatever was in it was all I had to protect myself. I’d prefer my gun, but if all I had was a Woody action figure, I’d stick it in a place where Santoni really understood the meaning of a "painful woody."

The back door was wrenched open and Santoni reached in and got a fistful of my hair and started to pull me from the car. I scrambled, trying to keep up with his movement without falling out of the car. Damn, my head hurt and his pulling my hair wasn’t helping. I just wanted to close my eyes and go back to sleep.

Finally out of the car, I noticed we were in back of an abandoned warehouse. Shit. How was Ranger going to find me here?

Santoni shoved a gun in my back and pushed me forward. "Get going…inside," he growled.

"Sit there," he ordered as he propelled me into a dirty corner of the room. Hitting the wall, I sunk to my knees, holding my head.

"You’re a stupid bitch, you know that?" he said as he started to pace. "Here I look for days and days and can’t find you. Then, I’m driving down the street and there you are. Standing in front of the freakin’ McDonald’s. Damn, I’m one lucky son-of-a-bitch!"

He stopped moving, looked at me for a few seconds, took to the two long strides necessary to stand in front of me, and then backhanded me across my face. I immediately tasted blood in my mouth as I fell and landed on my side.

Santoni started to pace again. "You got me outside that bar with promises of sex. I thought you were a whore then," he came at me again and got right in my face, "now I’m going to make you one."

Without thinking or the slightest hesitation, I swung my right arm from behind my back, bringing Mary Lou’s pocketbook in direct contact with the side of Santoni’s head. A burg woman’s pocketbook is not to be trifled with. He fell over and hit the floor as his gun skidded away.

I tried to get to my feet as fast as I could, but the world started to spin and I couldn’t keep my balance. Falling to the ground again, I started to scoot myself along the floor to the door. Keep moving, I kept telling myself, keep moving.

"You fucking bitch!" Santoni grabbed me by the hair again and pulled my head back. "You’re going to pay for that." He let go of my head, but only because he was busy tying my hands behind my back.

When he was finished he rolled me over onto my back and started to undo the button on my jeans. "You whore…you stupid fucking whore." I started to kick my legs frantically but that only made him sit on my legs.

I was squirming for all I was worth when another voice stopped us both.

"Freeze! Police!"

Oh thank Christ. Relief flooded over my entire body. Santoni got off of me and backed away with his hands in the air.

"Ok, ok man. It’s cool," Santoni said, still backing away.

"Listen, you piece of slime, stop moving or you’re dead," said the cop.

This finally stopped Santoni and the cop started to move it. Wait. Why isn’t this guy calling for back up? Maybe he already did that. Somehow I didn’t believe it. Something here didn’t feel right and I wasn’t sure what it was.

The cop got about 6 feet in front of Santoni and stopped, his gun still pointed directly at Santoni’s head. I got a really bad feeling in the pit of my stomach and it wasn’t just the nausea talking.

"On second thought," said the cop, "maybe you’re dead anyway." He pulled the trigger twice and Santoni crumpled to the ground.

Ok, I really needed to get out of here. This wasn’t right. I tried to get up again but couldn’t with my hands tied and my head spinning. My movement caught the attention of the only person left standing.

The cop walked over and crouched down in front of me. When he smiled a chill ran down my spine. This was bad—very, very bad.

"Well hello, Mrs. Stankovic. We finally get to meet face to face. I’m Pete DeFalco."

The Switch Chapter 11

Oh my god, this nutball thinks I'm Mary Lou. Our little plan to switch places worked, but not exactly as planned. Oh boy.

"I'm not," I had to stop because of the pain in my head. I squeezed my eyes shut for a few seconds before trying to continue on.

"I'm not whoever you just said," I managed to croak out.

"Oh, that's a very nice try Mrs. Stankovic, but I've seen you…at your house, with your husband."

I had to get him to believe I wasn't Mary Lou. There was this awful feeling that if I didn't, I wouldn't live very long.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm not married. I live in an apartment with my hamster." Figuring it was better to stick close to the truth, I came up with things I could remember later.

Trying to sit up, I struggled until DeFalco finally helped me. He even scooted me back until I could lean against the wall, but my hands stayed tied. My head felt like it was going to explode.

DeFalco stood back and looked down at me. His demeanor was calm, but his eyes looked a little crazed.

"That was a nice trick you tried at the mall. You didn't think I would have noticed the switch? You underestimate me, Mrs. Stankovic. You've also made things a little more difficult, since it's obvious you've gone to the authorities. But I think these are things we can overcome."

It was finally starting to dawn on me that this guy was nuts. I had no idea how to convince him I wasn’t Mary Lou.

"Mr. DeFalco, I'm not this person you keep saying I am. My name is Stephanie Plum…"

His eyes grew wide and I realized I probably just made a mistake. "The Bombshell Bounty Hunter?" He started to look nervous. "Stephanie Plum is engaged to Joe Morelli." Now he started to pace. Uh oh, I think I just went from the frying pan into the fire. "No, that's impossible. I saw you at your house…with your husband, the big plumber. You are Mary Lou Stankovic." He didn't leave much room to argue, but at this point, I don't know if it was the smart thing to do. DeFalco kept pacing and muttering to himself for I don't know how long. It felt like hours.

He stopped pacing when he caught sight of Mary Lou's pocketbook and its contents spilled all over the floor. Digging around frantically, he finally came up with the wallet. DeFalco fumbled with it until he got it open and started to take stock of what was inside. I had no doubt the first thing he noticed was Mary Lou's driver's license.

He studied it intently, then let his hands fall to his sides while putting his head back with eyes closed.

"Pete," I started softly, "let's just walk out of here and…"

"Shut up!" he screamed as he spun to face me. "You aren't going anywhere. If you aren't Mary Lou, then you'll be my bargaining chip."

"Bargaining chip?" Now I was confused.

"I'm going to trade you for Mary Lou," he sneered.

Oh god, this guy has lost it. Getting Mary Lou now wouldn't do him any good. "Mary Lou won't do you any good now, Pete. Let's just leave…"

"I said shut up! She needs to pay for ruining everything!" His started pacing again. "Why did she have to be so nosy? I had a good thing going. I eliminated the problem. Teddy thought I was actually going to let him go back to Ramos." DeFalco snorted in disgust. "What an idiot. Sal Mitrani was going to thank me for finding out Baxter was a plant and taking care of it. We were close to forcing Ramos out. And now…and now…" He stopped his pacing and ran his fingers through his hair, then bent over and picked up Mary Lou's phone. Walking over, he shoved the phone in my face.

"Call your boyfriend."

No problem, those were instructions I could follow if it meant my hands would be freed. Scooting forward, I turned slightly so he could untie my hands. DeFalco hesitated as if he were having second thoughts, but finally undid the sloppy job Santoni had done.

"Make it quick or you're dead," he threatened as he pulled his gun from its shoulder holster and pointed it at my head. I remember what happened last time he gave that ultimatum and I didn't want to end up next to Santoni on the floor. As quickly as I could make my shaking hands work, I punched in the number and said a silent prayer that he'd pick up. Hopefully he wouldn't be too upset, so that later he'd forgive me for causing so much over an Egg McMuffin.

"Babe?" He sounded as scared as I felt. At the sound of Ranger's voice I started to cry.

"Hi, it's me," I managed to get out through the tears.

"Where are you? We found the car at the McDonald's…" Ranger sounded frantic but that’s all I heard before DeFalco ripped the phone from my hand.

"Listen up Morelli, I have your girlfriend and if you want to see her alive, you better do exactly as I say."

Geez, what old movie did he get that line from? Shit, I must be delirious. Here I am about to be…who knows what, and all I can think about are old movie lines. Bringing my knees up to wrap my arms around them, I gently lowered my head as I listened to DeFalco and quietly wept.

"I'm proposing a switch…"

The Switch Chapter 12

DeFalco and I left the abandoned warehouse. About 20 minutes later we arrived at a plain four-story brick building. It didn’t look much better than where we came from, but I think people were actually living in it.

Pushing me up the stairs to the 2^nd floor, DeFalco directed me to a door at the end of the hallway; 2B was painted on the door. Seemed appropriate, since to be or not to be was my question of the moment.

He unlocked the door and shoved me inside. I stumbled and ended up on my knees. The apartment was empty of furniture except for a dingy couch against one wall and a dinette and chairs by the windows. DeFalco seemed to ignore me as he hurried around the place collecting things and slamming drawers and doors. I thought about trying to stand and make a run for it, but he had closed and locked the door. With my hands now cuffed behind my back, I was stuck.

Finally I decided to sit down. My knees couldn’t take much more. Pete had stopped his searching and was now fiddling with things in the kitchen. Ten minutes later I thought it might be in my best interest to find out what’s going on.

"Pete?" I could see him only partially from my position on the floor. His back was to me and his head was down.

"Pete!" He snapped his head up and turned it to the side as if he wasn’t sure he heard anything.

"Pete! I need to go to the bathroom." This might get him to untie my hands.

Pete turned from his place in the kitchen and stormed into the living room. Ok, maybe this wasn’t such a great idea. The look in his eyes was one of insanity.

"I need to use the bathroom," I said, but this time I spoke softly.

He hadn’t spoken to me since we made that phone call. At the time, I was relieved, but now his silence only frightened me more. Grabbing me by one arm, he lifted me to my feet. We walked the few feet to the bathroom and he hesitated when he got to the door.

I could tell he was looking for something by the way he was scanning the small room. When his eyes fell on the shower rod, I said a silent prayer that I wasn’t going to be once again handcuffed to one. Besides making it very hard for me to use the toilet, I had a feeling Ranger’s rescue wouldn’t come this time.

He pushed me forward, so my back faced him. I felt him unlock one of the cuffs. Tugging me to the side, he latched the open cuff to towel bar above the toilet. This wasn’t going to work too well and I was going to say something, but when I saw the fire in his eyes, I kept my mouth shut. I’d work it out.

In a low menacing whisper, he gave me my instructions. "You’ve got two minutes, then I come back in." I was done way before the two-minute deadline.

Not really having any sense of time, I didn’t know how long I had been seated on the couch. After my trip to the bathroom, he recuffed me and threw me there without uttering a word. I knew he had told Ranger, well he thought he was telling Joe, to meet him at 8 p.m. It was dark outside now, but I didn’t know how close that brought us to our meeting time.

I had put my head back and closed my eyes, for I don’t know how long. But I was startled back into the here-and-now when I heard a chair move across the kitchen floor. When I opened my eyes, I didn’t really understand what I was seeing. In the middle of the living room was a chair and directly behind it was the dinette table. Both sat about 10 feet from the front door.

DeFalco came over, and once again, hauled me to my feet. Placing me on the lone chair, he tied my feet to it. I wasn’t able to turn around and see what he was doing, but he was making quite a bit of noise, with a cuss word thrown in every once in a while.

Finally moving in front of me, I watched, confused, as he strung cording around the room, wire in front of the door, and then went back to fiddling around behind me. Something told me he was attaching the cord to me as well. This was so not good.

My blood ran cold when I heard that distinct sound of a shotgun being racked, then more rustling behind me. I got the distinct impression that sitting very still had become very important.

Coming into my line of sight, Pete bent down and got in my face. "It’s only a matter of time," was the only thing he said before he put duct tape over my mouth and went to the front door, carefully setting the final piece of the booby trap before leaving.

It wasn’t too long before I heard someone out in the hall. Even with my mouth taped I wanted to scream, but not knowing how he had me rigged, I didn’t take the chance of even the slightest movement. Tears were running down my face and my nose was getting stuffy. I might suffocate before anyone coming in the door had a chance to set off the trap.

Fear gripped my heart, as the sound of someone picking the lock echoed through the tiny apartment. Very slowly the door started to open, and the first thing I saw was the nose of a gun. With very slow, precise movements, Joe came into view.

I didn’t know what to do. The urge to shake my head was overwhelming.

He saw me, and then started to scan the room with his eyes. He was looking for people, not for wire at his feet.

When I saw him take a step into the room, his ankle was right up against the wire, starting to pull at it, I took a chance. As loud as I could, I screamed, with my mouth closed it didn't sound like much, but it was all I had. Shaking my head slightly but frantically, I tried to communicate with him.

As soon as Joe heard my muffled scream, his eyes met mine. He moved a little closer and I heard a click behind my head.

Another closed-mouth scream from me, and he stopped. This time my head was nodding slightly, and I moved my panicked eyes to his feet. I prayed he understood. Communicating without words had never been a problem between us. Granted I was talking about sex, but my hope was he could make the leap from sex to saving my life.

Joe slowly lowered his head and looked at his feet. I saw him tense, the veins on his neck popping out. His teeth must have been clenched so hard I was surprised I didn’t hear them shatter. Bringing his head back up, his eyes once again met mine. This time, however, my fear and panic were mimicked in his.

There was nothing I could do but sit there and watch as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out in a controlled sigh. He carefully and slowly tucked his gun in the back of his pants, then reached into his front pocket and pulled out his phone.

Now his movements were stiff, and, I noticed, a little shaky. Lightly tapping the keypad he dialed a number and slowly brought the phone to his ear.

Whispering, Joe spoke into his phone. "He set a booby trap…she’s wired to it…my foot’s on the trigger," he looked down at his feet, "make it now." With that he closed the phone.

"Cupcake, are we alone?"

I nodded, trying to blink the tears away. What I really wanted to do was shrug because I had not idea where Pete had gone, but I was afraid of the repercussion of that type of movement.

"Ok, don’t move. Ranger’s on his way up."

I gave another slight nod.

"Everything is going to be ok, Steph. I promise."

A sudden feeling of relief flooded me, but it was short lived.

My relief was replaced by sheer terror when the door to the apartment behind Joe opened and in the doorway stood Pete DeFalco.

 The fear showing in my eyes locked and mingled with the insanity showing in DeFalco's. For a moment it was if we were connected and I could hear the crazy thoughts in his head. When a slow evil smile formed on his lips, I was sure he could hear the panicked thoughts in mine.

When he raised his right hand and I noticed the gun in it pointing directly at Joe's back, our trance was broken. My eyes went wide and felt as if they were going to bug out of my head. Tearing my gaze from DeFalco's to meet Joe's was like going from a dark room to a brightly lighted one. Somehow I had to silently communicate with him. I prayed that if there was ever a time when I needed Joe Morelli to be able to read me, it was right now.

My prayers must have been answered, or Joe's own version of ESP kicked into gear, because the look on his face turned to one of recognition. Just as he was starting to turn his head and go for his gun, all while trying to keep his one leg still, I heard shouts in the hallway. When my eyes focused behind Joe, I saw the retreating back of DeFalco right before he slammed the door shut.

Joe’s body visibly sagged as he released the tension he was holding. When Ranger came into my view, I started to cry all over again, but this time from relief. Tank had come up with Ranger and followed after DeFalco, having to bust down the door with only one good shove with his shoulder.

Joe and Ranger were having some sort of conversation; I didn’t hear a word they said. I did nothing but keep my eyes on Ranger, feeling that if I took them off him for even a second, he’d disappear into thin air.

Ranger looked at me and as if reading my mind, turned, carefully stepped over the wire and walked cautiously toward me.

"Did he rig anything else, Babe?" His voice was soothing to my ears and my tears started to let up. I carefully shook my head no. Ranger gave me a loving smile and I knew everything would be ok. "I’m going to go around back of you. Keep still."

When he finally was close enough, he bent down and gave me a kiss on the cheek and whispered, "I’m not going to let you or Morelli get hurt. I promise." I believed him; after all, he’s Batman.

Once Ranger was out of sight behind me, I studied Joe…who was studying Ranger…who was, I supposed, studying me. Every one of my senses was on alert, trying to pick up anything that Ranger might be doing, but there was nothing but silence. Joe’s face was no help. If something bad was going on behind my head, either Ranger wasn’t letting it show or Joe wasn’t letting it show to me. Either way, I had no clues, so I closed my eyes and waited.

"Babe." The sound of Ranger’s voice startled me and I jumped slightly. He put a steadying hand on my shoulder and continued.

"I’m going to have to move the gun." Fine, move it the hell away from my head. "In order to do that so it won’t go off, I’m going to have to move it forward." He stopped and I started to get really worried.

Tank chose that moment to reappear. "Boss, he went down the fire escape. I alerted the guys to be on the look out and to move the package two over."

What? Move the package? Mary Lou! They brought Mary Lou.

Tank took the same precautions as Ranger as he entered the room. He came over and started to remove the tape from my mouth. "Bombshell, I’m going to rip this off. It’s going to hurt. Scream if you want, but don’t talk. People move their heads more than they think when they talk. You still need to be still." The look in his eye was one of regret. He really didn’t want to hurt me. Before I could consent, he ripped it off, then grabbed my head in his hands so I didn’t move. I winced, whimpered, and my eyes watered, but I didn’t scream.

Leaning down, Tank gave me a kiss on my forehead and rubbed his thumb over my skin where the tape had been, trying to help ease the sting. I loved these guys. When I looked up at him, he gave me a toothy white grin. "Now I’m going to untie your feet and hands, but keep still. Keep your arms in the same position. I’ll tell you when to move them."

Mouthing "ok," I said a silent prayer that he knew what he was doing. Tank must have seen the doubt in my eyes. He gave one last rub with this thumb across my mouth, "We won’t let anything happen to you," he whispered, then leaned down again and put a very gentle, very chaste kiss on my lips.

I couldn’t believe it. Tank just kissed me! Tank just kissed me in front of Ranger! Tank had crouched down and started to untie my feet from the chair when I felt Ranger’s hot breath at my ear. The urge to turn was so great I didn’t know if I could control myself.

"They love you, Steph. They all do. I’m just the lucky one that happens to love you and have your heart in return." He was right and I had to smile. I loved them all, too. My life wouldn’t be the same if any of the guys weren’t in it, but what Ranger and I had was special.

Tank had finished with his job of untying me and Ranger finally finished what he was telling me before. "Babe, I’m going to have to move the gun forward, so you’ll feel it against the back of your head. There is no guarantee that it won’t discharge, so when I start to move it, Tank is going to grab you and you’ll both hit the floor. Morelli’s going to drop too." Joe nodded and then our eyes locked. He smiled and winked at me.

"Don’t worry, Cupcake, we’ll all be fine."

Once again, Tank was crouched in front of me; this time at eye level, and his hands were on my sides. "Steph, when Ranger says go, fall into me, don’t bring your hands up to grab me, keep them down. I’ll have hold of you. Ok?"

"Ok," came my hoarse whisper.

Closing my eyes, I held my breath. When the barrel of the shotgun came in contact with the back of my head, I gasped and stiffened.

"GO!"

Throwing myself forward was easy; keeping my hands down was the hard part. I wanted to latch onto Tank and never let go. I felt his strong grip around my waist and then we were flying, and I heard the deafening sound of a gun being fired right behind me. Tank and I hit the floor with a thud, and rolled so I completely covered by the large man’s body.

We lay there a few beats and I started to wonder if the ringing in my ears would ever go away. Feeling Tank shift above me, I looked up into a grinning face. "Bombshell, we’ve got to stop ending up like this. The Boss isn’t going to like it," he said loudly, but then lowered his voice. "But it’s nice to know you don’t always like to be on top." I felt my face turn red but it only lasted a second when I remembered Joe. My eyes widened and I gave one good shove to my human shield, which moved him off me easily.

I sat up quickly and looked toward the door. "Joe?" I know I sounded panicked. The door to the apartment across the hall had a huge hole in it.

"I’m over here, Cupcake," he said.

My head swiveled around and sure enough, Joe was over by Ranger examining the gun and the set up. Tank joined them and Ranger broke away to help me to my feet. Once standing, he embraced me in a huge hug.

"Are you ok, Babe?"

"Yes…now," I said as I squeezed him tight. Suddenly thoughts of what Tank had said earlier came flooding back. Moving back from Ranger, I met his eyes. "Did you bring Mary Lou with you?" He nodded once.

Pushing off him, I narrowed my eyes. "You were really going to trade me for Mary Lou? You were going to give my best friend to that psycho to get me free?" I was sounding pissed and probably should have been more grateful considering the man just saved my hide…again.

"Babe, we wouldn’t have…"

"You brought her here! Lenny let you do this? Did you think of the kids? They need a mother! I can’t believe this!" Screaming by now, I started to pace, also.

I just couldn’t fathom how such highly trained men could make such a big ass mistake.

"Babe, it was her idea." That’s how.

How could I forget the stubborn burg girl factor?

"What?"

"It was her idea. We weren’t going to bring her here. Lenny didn’t want her to go either. She insisted, said she’d cause more trouble then we could handle if we didn’t bring her along." He stepped up to me and put his hands on my shoulder. "She said something about ‘if anything is going to happen to her best friend, it would be over her dead body’." I started to cry again.

Ranger brought me in to his chest, and I put my arms around his waist as he kissed me on the top of my head. "Shh…it’s ok, Babe. She’s with the guys."

That managed to stop my tears and bring back another statement Tank had made when he came in. DeFalco had gotten away… and Mary Lou was out there.

Oh no…oh, hell no.

In what will probably be considered the fastest moves I’ve ever made, I pulled Ranger’s gun from the back of his pants, freed myself from his arms and was out the door before anyone could blink.

I vaguely registered shouts behind me, but I was headed out. DeFalco was out there and so was Mary Lou. Somewhere deep down, my gut was telling me she needed me, that being surrounded by three large guys wasn’t going to be enough.

This stubborn, pig-headed burg girl wasn’t done factoring in yet and DeFalco had better pray I didn’t catch up with him.

 The Switch 14

I burst from the building at a dead run. Something was wrong—I just knew it. You can’t be best friends with someone for almost your entire life and not have a special connection. Well, at least Mary Lou and I couldn’t. She needed me. I could feel it.

About five steps out of the building I had to stop because I didn’t know which way to go. Tank had said something about "two over," but in which direction? Just then, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed movement in the shadows.

Turning in that direction, I brought my gun up and shouted, "Who’s there? I’ve got a gun, so move slow."

"Whoa, Trouble."

"Pat?"

"Yeah, what has you…"

"Where’s Mary Lou?" He didn’t answer, but came to stand in front of me. "Where is Mary Lou? The guys? Pat!" I was sounding pretty desperate and hysterical, but I didn’t care.

The look on his face showed confusion mixed with concern. I know I wasn’t acting normal, but he needed to move past that.

"Pat, please. Where are they?" With a nod of his head he motioned down the road behind me. I took off immediately.

"Wait! They’ve moved. Stephanie?" As his voice faded, I heard Joe’s ring out behind me.

"Steph! Damn it! Stephanie, wait!" Waiting wasn’t an option as far as I was concerned, so I didn’t.

By the time I turned the corner at the end of the block I realized I needed to start running with Ranger more often, or maybe if I avoided running altogether I wouldn’t notice that I can’t get very far without huffing and puffing. I stood there surveying the scene and trying to catch my breath. "Two over" what was Tank said. Assuming they would want farther away, and not closer, I started in the direction that would take me away from the building where I had been held captive.

A brisk walk was as fast as I was capable of going, but I hoped that cutting through some yards and alleys was going to help me make good time. Ok, good time to where, I wasn’t sure, but good time, nonetheless.

Off in the distance I heard some muffled shouts. The knot in my gut tightened and I knew that was where I needed to be. Once again I took off at a run, but this time I swear my lungs were going to explode. As I approached the end of the block, I could hear other, calmer voices mixed in with the loud one.

Slowly I crept around the corner house, and my heart stopped at the sight in the middle of the street. About half way down the block, DeFalco was standing, his back to me.He also had Mary Lou…with a gun to her head.

The outlines of Bobby and Lester were hard to miss and it seemed as though they were trying to talk DeFalco down or at least distract him. I figured out why when I saw a body crouched down on the other side of the Bronco. My guess was it was Lenny and he was waiting for an opportunity to jump out. The problem was that DeFalco kept moving in a direction away from Lenny, getting a better view to see him.

Fuck. I needed to get closer. I needed to do something.

Scanning the street, I saw that on the other side there was a driveway with tall bushes on one side. Staying as low as I could, I started across, hoping like hell DeFalco didn’t choose that moment to turn towards my end of the street. I couldn’t tell if the guys saw me, and I didn’t stop to find out. My luck was holding out when I arrived at the other side and there was an alley running behind the houses.

Counting the houses as I ran down the alley, I came to the 5^th one that had the driveway. I should come out a little behind DeFalco, so if he turned, his back would be to Lenny and the guys. The only problem was the 6-foot tall fence blocking my entrance into the yard. Shit, I haven’t climbed a fence in…in…too long!

Tucking Ranger’s gun in the back of my jeans, I started climbing the fence. Reaching the top hadn’t been that difficult, and even getting over to the other side was fine. My plan went a little haywire when I started to climb down. My shirtsleeve, right at the top front of my shoulder, caught in the chain link. Being in a hurry I didn’t stop when I felt the tug at my shirt, and kept going until I heard the tear, then when I tried to stop, my momentum propelled me downward. I stumbled my way down the bottom half of the fence, landing on my rear with a thump.

When I felt the warm summer night’s breeze on my chest, I looked down to find the right half of my shirt was hanging around my waist. Thank god I wore a nice bra today and not one you could see through. My mother would be ironing for days if I got caught with a see-through bra on in public. As it was, she’d be ironing the sheets at this one.

Doing a mental eye roll, I stood quickly and headed toward the front of the house while trying to tuck my shirt in my bra. At least I could tell my mother I tried to cover myself.

Walking with my back against the bushes, I moved more slowly now, not wanting DeFalco to see me until I was ready. Ready to do what, wasn’t really clear in my mind, I just knew I had to distract DeFalco and get him to face me so Lenny and the guys could do their thing.

There were two garbage cans up ahead, and I crouch-walked until I was behind them. I could clearly hear DeFalco now and he didn’t sound very stable.

"…her fault that all this went wrong. She has to pay." His words were scary enough, but his calm, menacing tone gave me chills. When I heard Mary Lou’s whimpers I almost started to cry, but out of nowhere anger took over.

I reached around to my back to find my gun, but it wasn’t there. Shit. I must have lost it when I came down off the fence. Starting to stand so I could go back and look for it, I noticed my shirt had come untucked from my bra. I should really learn that trying to do too many things at once is not my strong suit. In the process of trying to move, stay unseen, and cover myself, I tripped, falling into the garbage cans and rolling out into the street. I couldn’t hear much over the clatter and banging of the garbage cans hitting the pavement, but I knew one thing for sure. I had everyone’s attention.

Raising my head, I looked up just in time to see Lenny tackle DeFalco from behind, grabbing the hand that had the gun in it, and the three of them landing on the ground. Getting up as fast as I could, I went over and started to pull Mary Lou away from the two men and the gun. There was a tearing sound and Mary Lou came free, throwing me backwards so I landed on my ass again, with her on top of me.

Before either of us had time to recover, there was a shot fired. Feeling as though it was my job to protect her, I rolled us so that I covered her, saying a quick prayer that Lester or Bobby got to DeFalco before he could get off another shot and that Lenny wasn’t hurt.

In the distance I thought I heard car doors being closed, but too much had happened too fast for anything to make sense. Seconds ticked by as all I heard were shouts and shuffles behind us.

"Steph? Mary Lou?" finally came a familiar, yet concerned voice.

"Tank?"

"Bombshell, Little Mamma, you can get up now."

I turned my head to look behind me, not that I didn’t trust Tank, but I needed to see for myself that DeFalco wasn’t over us with a gun. Tank’s beautiful warm smile came into view.

"Come on, you two," he said, putting out a big hand to help me up.

Ignoring his hand, I rolled off Mary Lou onto my back and closed my eyes. "Make sure she is ok," I croaked.

"Steph…" Mary Lou started, but I cut her off.

"Go with Tank, make sure you are ok," I ordered without opening my eyes.

"Oh my god!" Mary Lou screeched. Well that had me bolting upright and looking around.

She was running over to Lenny, who was sitting in the street holding his arm as blood ran down the side of it. Joe was over there with Lester and Ranger. When Mary Lou reached Lenny, she dove for him, almost toppling the big guy right over. Thank god Ranger had been behind him to steady them both. She was placing kisses all over Lenny’s face and I could hear her repeating, "I love you" over and over. I had to smile.

My eyes met Ranger’s and he was looking at me kind of strangely, but I didn’t have to time to figure out why. Tank cleared his throat and drew my attention away. When I looked up at Tank he had a wolf grin plastered on his face. Then I noticed Bobby come up next to Tank and look at me with an unhappy wolf grin, if that is at all possible. I know surprise must have shown on my face when Bobby took off his shirt and handed it to me.

"Sweetlips, you’re flashing everybody." He bent down to look me in the eyes. "And while I know I have no claim to what you’re showing, I still don’t want every man here to see it." He turned back to look at Ranger, who seemed to be scowling slightly. "I’m sure Ranger feels the same way."

Shit. My shirt! I was flashing everyone. Christ. Quickly taking Bobby’s t-shirt and pulling it over my head, I noticed that Joe was staring with a wolf grin and Pat was watching with a raised eyebrow. Hey, he hadn’t been around me long enough to know this is par for the course.

Bobby stood and backed away, holding out his hand to help me up, which I took gladly. My butt was going to be sore for a week.

Ranger started toward me, and I went to meet him halfway.

"Is Lenny ok?"

"Yeah, Babe. He’s going to be fine. The bullet just grazed him a little." Ranger turned around to look at Lenny and a very clingy Mary Lou. "And I think he’s going to be hero material for a long time to come."

Just as I opened my mouth to say something, yelling distracted me. Looking over to my left, I saw that DeFalco was on the ground, out cold. He seemed to be bleeding from cuts around his face and some bruises were starting to swell. I was going to ask how those got there, but thought better of it and I looked back at Lenny and noticed his right hand had cuts and scrapes on the knuckles.

"You’re not taking him!" Joe yelled at Pat.

Pat leaned in and said something I couldn’t hear, but Joe’s reaction was plain as day. He was standing there, clenching his jaw and his hands. This was not good.

Joe said something through clenched teeth, which had Pat looking unhappy, but not quite as tense. Pat leaned in again and said something, but this time Joe’s shoulders slumped. When Pat backed away, Joe just stood there, blinking.

"Fine. But I get him back," Joe said while pointing a finger at Pat. Turning on his heels, Joe stomped off to meet the first squad car on the scene.

"What was all that about?" I asked Ranger.

"I think Ramos wants to have a talk with DeFalco. Pat probably has orders to deliver him to the old man. Morelli probably doesn’t agree."

I looked over at Joe as he tried to keep the uniforms from going over to Pat, who was trying to get DeFalco in the back of the car. Another of Ramos’ goons came over to help him and in no time, they were gone. Lord only knows how Joe was going to explain this one, but if he were half as clever with his boss, as he was with me when he tried to cover something up, he’d be fine.

My thoughts were interrupted when Ranger wrapped in me in a big bear hug.

"You scared me to death when you ran out of that room."

"I had to get to Mary Lou. She needed me," I offered in my defense. He pushed me back, holding me at arm’s length.

"I understand that. But we could have talked about it. You shouldn’t have taken my gun," he scolded.

"Ranger," I said, starting to get a little pissed. "I had to act. There was no time for discussion. She needed me."

"Stephanie," he said in an unhappy tone. Uh oh.

But all he did was sigh, and then stared at me for several long seconds before pulling me back into his strong embrace, placing a kiss on the top of my head.

"I saw you roll Mary Lou, that was good. You did a good job, Babe. But let’s try to be more of a team next time, ok?"

Oh. My. God. Did Ranger just call us a team? Laughter rumbled deep from within his chest.

"Yeah, Babe. A team." He looked down at me. "In more ways than one." This time when I got the wolf grin, I returned it twofold. Oh yeah.