It was hard to believe that it had only been a week when I had flopped face down on to my couch and had received that damn phone call from Ranger.

I was expecting to find my answering machine filled with voicemails from my grandma, mother and/or everyone from the bonds office asking me to ring them back so I could tell them all about my big mission with Ranger.

But when I went to check it I found it was empty. They mustn't have heard that I was back yet. That was good. I didn't want to talk about it.

Despite Bobby and co. persuading me to stay at Rangeman until Ranger got back, I just wanted to be alone.

I didn't want everyone walking on egg shells around me.

I didn't want everyone mollycoddling me like I had glass bones or paper skin.

I didn't want everyone to keep asking me how I was doing.

Lester took me straight home with a massive box of Ella's sugary treats to lift my spirits. Most of them were gone within 3 days.

I was in the middle of watching an old soap opera when a knock came from my front door. I got up and looked through the peep hole.

It was Ranger.

I considered screaming at him to go to hell but I had already found myself opening the door and staring at him through the gap left by the door chain.

Ranger was wearing his signature black fatigues and the smell of Bulgari emanated off of him.

He was holding Rex's aquarium. Rex was in his travel carrier inside of it.

"You decided to use Rex as an excuse to come over?" I asked, opening the door fully.

"I doubted you'd slam the door on your hamster." He said walking inside. His voice held no trace of humour and his eyes were sad.

"Why's he in his travel carrier?"

"Ella cleaned his cage earlier and he kept bumping into the glass."

That made me smile. I knew Ella would have taken great care of him. "Put him on the coffee table."

The smile was gone once Ranger placed Rex down and then looked back at me. Neither of us said anything.

I stood still as stone. I didn't know whether to feel angry or upset. I didn't know whether to scream at him or cry my eyes out. I didn't know if wanted him anywhere near me.

"So who are you now?" I asked.

He blinked at me and the corners of his lips rose ever so slightly. "I'm Carlos Manoso. Nigel Sarbello is dead and you'll never see him again."

"…Really?"

He nodded. "I know I am the last person you want to see right now."

I folded my arms across my chest. "What if I told you that I never want to see you again?"

I heard his breath hitch but he acted as though nothing happened. "I wouldn't blame you." His eyes looked me up and down, studying me. "Go on. Let it all out."

"I was freaking terrified!" I screamed. "Why the hell didn't you tell me what was going on?! Why the hell didn't you fill me in? Why the hell didn't you say that you were going undercover as Sarbello?!"

Ranger watched as my chest heaved and the angry tears rolled down my face. He stepped forward, wrapped his arms around me and pulled me to him. I did my best to shove him away but his hold on me was too strong.

Breathing heavily, I looked up at him. "I thought you were going to kill me, Ranger."

His face was a mask of grief as he brought up a hand and wiped the tears away with his thumb. "I know. And it's been killing me."

I watched him for a heartbeat while enjoying the comforting familiar fragrance of his shower gel. "I want to know what happened. I want to know why you did what you did."

He nodded and sat us down on the sofa.

"First of all, I want you to know that we're all proud of you, Babe; especially me. Thanks to you, we got more than enough evidence to take the bastards down. They're all going to get the death penalty."

A surge of pure satisfaction went through me. I was only sorry that I wouldn't be there to watch the scumbags being sent to hell.

Ranger took in a deep breath.

"When I first met the gang, I posed as Sarbello by offering to do business with them in Bolivia by selling weapons. They were always paranoid of who they came in contact with and were always on the move. I earned their trust easily by giving them fake tip-offs of some rival gangs and people who wanted them dead or behind bars. After 2 years, I was considered a friend as well as a supplier. There were a lot of things I didn't want to do to make sure I was to be feared of.

"But before I could get the UN or the authorities on their asses, I lost them. 4 years had passed until we finally tracked them down on the island last week. I knew we needed fresh evidence to take them down and I knew they weren't likely to repeat everything they said to me. But having you come along, I knew they would be likely to brag about it to a woman." He smiled a warm smile. "It's all thanks to you, Babe."

Okay, we were getting somewhere but there was a lot that I didn't understand.

"Why is it thanks to me?"

Ranger smirked. "One of the reasons, Babe, is that they were all living together on an uncharted island. I know from experience on past assignments that it can be…frustrating not having a woman around for a while. But I didn't need just any woman. Even though you had no idea about what I planned to do, you kept your ground. I don't know anyone else who could have done that."

I made a small smile but frowned when I needed more answers. "But why didn't you tell me you were going undercover?"

He hesitated for a beat, choosing his words carefully. "I trust your instincts more than your acting skills."

My eyes narrowed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means I asked for your help because I don't know any other women who have excellent instincts like yours or would be able to handle something that extreme. These were incredibly dangerous men we were taking down, Babe. I didn't want you to take any risks that could have cost you your life. I would never forgive myself if anything happened to you. That made up story you told Ezio the day after we arrived was a brilliant. They were scared of me enough so they would know to keep their hands off of you if they didn't want to piss me off."

He took both of my hands in his. "I made sure you were never in any danger, Stephanie. I had the living room bugged with Tank monitoring the cameras, alert and ready for anything."

Okay, we were getting somewhere. Things were starting to make sense. But there were still some questions that were unanswered.

"What about that woman with the pistol, and Chapman?" I asked nearly gagging at the memory. "The heart and…and stomach…"

Ranger gave my hands a squeeze. "They were pig remains. The woman was trying to bring them down, just like us, but she got caught. She was lucky I was there to help her escape or it could have ended very badly for her.

"As for Chapman, we sent him to a rehabilitation centre. Bobby and Lester went with him and checked him in. Hopefully, he will come out clean and I've asked a few people I know who can help him when he checks out."

I blinked at him. "Bobby and Lester were there?"

"Yeah, along with Tank, Hector and Cal; that's how Lester got there quickly when I pretended to buy the kids."

The memory hit me like a slap to the face. "Wait…you didn't really buy the children off those creeps? You…you pretended?"

"Babe, I did that to save them." He looked hurt. "I thought you'd twig to that straight away."

I felt incredibly stupid. "Y-you really did save them?"

His face went hard. "Yes and it turns out that the youngest Alvaro and Gilberto had with them were barely passed walking age. They were both wanted across South America for burning down orphanages and kidnapping children for trafficking. If the gang didn't buy them, they would have been sold to paedophile rings. Lester had the bastards obtained and arrested; they'll be facing a life sentence. As for the children, they've been sent to a secure orphanage in Argentina. They're safe now."

Fresh tears pooled in my eyes as I looked away from him. Ranger placed his arms around me again and held me in a comforting embrace.

"What about Mendez?" I asked. "Did you find anything about him?"

I felt him tense around me. "Yes. Tank did a search on him. Mendez was wanted for kidnap, sexual assault and human trafficking. He'd use the drugs he'd buy from the gang to sedate or stone his victims." He pulled away to smile at me. "I'm glad you resisted him. I got a perfect aim to shoot him dead."

I swallowed. "But why did you let Pedro inject me with that…that drug afterwards?"

He let out a breath of air. "Believe or not, Babe, he actually helped you when you had that panic attack. Methaqualone is a sedative but it became illegal because it is highly addictive. It's a good thing he only gave you a threshold dose but Bobby was always on alert just in case."

I leaned away from him. "You left me alone with Ezio in the villa. He tried to convince me to…you know, to do things."

Ranger let out another sigh and shook his head. "Pedro and Cortez wanted me to come with them to the docks in case the Armed Services to the People of South America were on their suppliers' tail for the teargas grenades. Somebody had to stay behind so you could be brought over to fulfil your part as their insurance. Ezio made it difficult for me when I said that I would stay with you."

That day rewound in my head and the sickening feeling returned to my stomach.

"I was drugged in the basement…Why did you tell them to lock me in there?! Bobby said they drugged me with Rohypnol…he did a pregnancy test on me…"

Ranger stared at the floor. "I know. I should never have done that and I regret it. But I only did it because I thought it was the only way to keep you safe. I thought the gang would get the message that I didn't need any witnesses and would stay out of the basement until I went down for you. After you slapped me, I knew that enough was enough and I had to call the mission to an end."

He looked back at me; taking my hands again. "But Babe, I promise you nothing happened."

I blinked at him. "How do you know?"

He flashed me his 2000 watt smile. "Remember that sapphire necklace I gave you?"

"….Yeah."

"The diamond was actually a camera; it was monitored by Cal who would alert me through an ear piece if anything happened every time you and I were in different rooms. They didn't see you getting drugged since they were getting ready to close in. But when we retrieved the footage, we saw that the gang only got as far as making you unconscious before I barked at them to get their asses out of there."

He let out a sigh. "Too make things easier for them, Pedro snuck back down to replace your jeans with a skirt, they probably thought I wouldn't notice. If Hector hadn't got caught and then needed medical attention, we would have left the island much sooner and you wouldn't have been down there for so long. Cal had to leave his post to help apprehend them while Bobby left with Hector."

I felt the weight of my shoulders lift and a knot in my chest vanished. "So…They never touched me?"

Ranger pulled me to him and held me tight against him. "They never got the chance to, Babe."

I leant back to look at his face. "One last question; you scared the crap out of me when you held me by the hair and had your hand around my throat. Even when the others weren't in the same room as us, why did you keep on doing it?"

The 2000watt smile went out. "It had to look convincing and I hated every second of it. To make sure that I looked like the kind of…scumbag who everyone feared and kept his girlfriend under his thumb, I had to frighten you."

He brought up a hand to caress my cheek. "Although I didn't think I went as far to make you think I was going to kill you. I will understand if you will never forgive me."

I went quiet for a few moments as I studied his face. Ranger was generally hard to read but now he was like an open book. His eyes were sad and longing, like a dog who got caught stealing from the dinner table.

"So…Nightwing is gone."

He nodded. "He only existed on the island; you'll never see him again."

I made a small smile. "And I was safe the whole time we were there?"

He returned the smile. "I made sure of it."

To make sure Nightwing really was gone for good, I leaned forward and kissed him. Ranger kissed me back. His lips were soft and his arms were strong and secure around me.

God I missed this kiss…

We pulled away when a scratching sound caught our attention. We both looked at the coffee table to see Rex pawing at his travel carrier. He stopped when he knew we had acknowledged him and twitched his whiskers as if to say, 'yeah, I'm still in here!'

"N'aw, I'm sorry Rex." I cooed at him.

I opened the lid of his cage and picked up the travel carrier. I scooped him out to hold him in the palm of my hand and stroked his head with my forefinger. "I missed you little guy."

I placed him down in his cage and went into the kitchen to return with a baby carrot. When I came back into the living room, Rex realised I had a snack in hand and ran straight into the glass.

Ranger laughed and picked him up while shaking his head. "We should probably stick something on it."

I smiled my agreement and held out the carrot to Rex. He sniffed it before pulling something that looked like a folded piece of paper out of his mouth, dropped it onto Ranger's palm and replaced it with the carrot. Ranger and I glanced at each other. He handed Rex over to me before unfolding it.

He stared at it for a moment before letting out a frustrated groan.

"What?" I asked, placing Rex back in his cage. "What is it?"

He handed it to me. "Santos."

I took the paper from him and looked at it. It was a handwritten note.

Uncle Ranger,

Are you going to be my new daddy?

Love Rexy

Xxx

I burst out laughing and nearly dropped Rex as I tried to calm myself. "What's all this about?"

Ranger took in a deep breath. "I was going to wait for the right time but I don't want to keep it from you now." He looked at me. "Babe, remember when I told you on the plane, the day we arrived on the island, that there was something I wanted to ask you when all of this was over?"

I nodded, blinking at the sudden recollection.

My heart did a backflip when he took my hand in both of his and knelt down on to one knee.

"Stephanie Plum, I love you more than life itself and you're the only woman I want to have by my side for eternity. Will you do me the honour and make me the happiest man alive and marry me?"

Warmth swelled inside if my chest and butterflies fluttered in my stomach. "Yes!" I cried and flung myself into his arms.

Rex was getting his new daddy.

The end