Disclaimer: See Previous Chapters

Chapter 4

Author's Note: Okay guys, thanks for all of the reviews and I am so sorry it has taken me so long to update this story. Inspiration hasn't been close to me lately. Writer's block is horrid. I promise I will try to write more and again, thanks for all of your reviews. You've been a huge help!
LEX

Where We Left Off:
When I awoke at around 4 am I knew that someone else was in the room with me. I hadn't felt this feeling in almost 7 months. I didn't know how to react to my Batman Radar going off into hyperactive mode. I raised up slowly and slightly. My eyes adjusted to the dark of the room and I saw Ranger sitting in the chair by the window with the only light coming from my alarm clocks large red letters illuminating his face just barely.

"Babe."

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My heart instantly contracted but I forced myself not to cry. I watched his face and a little flash of something ran across his face but I couldn't quite tell what it was.

"Ranger," I could barely get the name out. It sounded forced, strangled almost. A pained expression shot across my face and I wanted to cry so badly, but I didn't want to scare him.

"Can we talk?"

"I don't know what to say."

"Will you listen to me now?," he asked, almost in a pleading voice.

"Yes, go ahead."

"Babe, I haven't been here for the past six months because I was having some family things that I had to deal with. I haven't had much contact with anyone here. I got a phone call the night you were rescued. It was from my daughter, Julie. She was crying and I could barely make out what she was saying. Through her tears I heard her say that her madre was dying. Rachel, my exwife, had been diagnosed with leukemia. The doctors have tried and tried for the past five months to get rid of it but it just kept coming back. Everytime it came back, she got weaker and weaker. Cancer took her naught but a month ago, and I have been with Julie in Miami. She wants to live with me, and I was trying to get to know her better before I just threw her into this new life up here," he said quietly. Normal men would have cried, but this was Batman. The hurt written on his face was enough to make me want to wrap my arms around him and hold him until I died.

"Ranger, I'm so sorry. How is Julie doing?," I asked, worry for his daughter sweeping over me.

"She is doing better but she still hurts. I have found her crying at night when it's time for her to go to bed. All I can do is hold her and tell her I love her. I don't know what else to do. She is only 13 years old Stephanie. I don't know what 10 year old girls like to do, so I am at a loss here," he said putting his head in his hands and running his fingers through his hair. The stress of the past six months was evident in the lines on his face. He just didn't look like the mercenary Ranger I had always known. He seemed more vulnerable now.

"Can I meet her?"

"Of course, I can't wait for her to meet you. From what I've told her, she thinks the world of you. She would ask me when it was close to the end for Rach what would you do in this situation, and I told her you would hold yourself together but crying was okay if she needed to. She smiled and took my hand, then asked if she could meet Wonder Woman when she got home," he said, laughter dancing through his eyes at the last part.

"Ranger! You did not tell her that I was Wonder Woman!," I said, shock registering on my face, and my hands automatically throwing a pillow at him, which he easily deflected.

"I told her that you always wanted to be Wonder Woman so you could fly, but what you don't realize is that you just have to smile and you are flying Steph."

My mouth opened and then closed itself again. Why was he doing this? Did he really, truly care? Or was this some ploy to get me in the sheets and then leave me again. I figured it was now or never to tell him about Joe.

"Morelli and I are over, as I'm sure you could tell yesterday," I said with a sigh.

"Yes, I picked up on that. Lester sent me a text a couple weeks ago letting me know too. I wanted to call so bad but all of the arrangements that had to be made for Rach and now all of the custody papers for Julie. It's just so confusing, and now I have to start staying at my actual house instead of the Haywood building because the court won't let Julie stay there. They say it's not suitable for a 13 year old girl, and they are right. Now I get to decorate a 13 year old girl's room and buy her stuff that a 13 year old girl needs. She wants to leave all of her stuff from Miami there with her step dad so she can have her room when she goes to visit him and family down there. That's where I was hoping you could help."

"Me? Why would you need me to help?," I asked, curious.

"You are a burg girl, you were once a 13 year old girl. You know what girls like, or you should so you could help Julie decorate and take her shopping and set up her room. I would appreciate it very much and I'll pay you for it if you want Steph. I just really need some help right now," he said, running his hands through his hair once again. He was tired and I could see it, extremely plain across his face. He needed sleep.

"I'll do it and don't worry about paying me. I would love to hang out with her. Ranger where is Julie now?," I asked quietly.

"She is staying with my sister in Miami for a couple more days, then she will be coming home. Why?"

"This is going against my better judgement, but come here," I said sweetly. I crooked my finger at him, motioning for him to come my way. He did as I asked and crawled across the bed to me, laying down beside me, him facing me. I cuddled into him, using his chest as a pillow like I had done so many nights before.

"No groping Carlos. You need healthy, natural sleep, and I am going to allow you to stay here with me tonight. No kissing, no fondling, no groping, and no heavy petting. Just sleep. You got that?," I asked in a light mannerism.

"Got it babe. Thank you," he said in a low voice, nuzzling his face into my hair. Then I was gone, lulled to sleep by the sound of his breathing.

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The next morning when I woke up, I was on top of Ranger with my head on his chest. I groaned and he came to full attention.

"What? What's wrong babe?," he asked immediately, giving me a once over. When he realized there was nothing wrong he grinned because I was still on top of him.

"Quit that evil grinning Carlos," I said, swatting his shoulder.

"Babe, you sounded like my madre when you said that."

"Oh great, now I sound like a mother. Fine by me as long as I don't sound like MY mother," I said with a laugh, rolling off of him and off of the bed. I headed into the living room to find my answering machine blinking angrily at me. I didn't hear the phone ring so I was either sleeping really hard or I had the ringer turned off again. I hit the play button and the first voice was my mother. I groaned.

"Stephanie, where are you? Why haven't you called me back? I just got a call from Amelia Luciano saying that that Ranger man's car was outside your building all night. Is this true? Dinner is at 7 tonight and bring him along."

Shaking my head I waited for the next message. Oh shit, it was Lester...

Steph! Hey bombshell. How are things? We still on for our date tonight? Give me a call when you get this. Later.

I felt Ranger behind me and I turned with my face flushed bright red.

"Date. With Lester?," he asked, his lips tight.

"Uh, yeah. We made the date before you came back in town and I thought you didn't want to have anything to do with me. This would only be like our second date," I said nervously. I didn't want Lester or myself to get shipped off to a 3rd world country.

"Are you going?," he asked, sounding a bit jealous.

"I haven't really made up my mind yet. I don't know how I feel about Lester. He's a good friend but I don't know if I could see him as anything more," I said with a tight expression across my face. I didn't really know what to say, much less what to do.

"I want to show you the house and Julie's room. So you can get ideas before you go shopping. Can you be ready in 10?," he asked, thankfully changing the subject. I nodded and sprinted to the bathroom to get away from him for a minute. I emerged 8 minutes later, a new woman and ready for the day.

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The ride to Rangeman was a silent one. He had to pick up some paperwork that he was going to fill out while I was walking through the house getting decoration ideas. The only things that were said on this ride were Ranger informing me that he wanted me to decorate the entire house. To take every room and change it to how I saw fit. I agreed, although I'm not exactly sure why, but I did.

When we reached the building I swung my legs out of the car and took off for the control room. As I walked in the door, large arms encircled me and picked me up off the floor.

"Bombshell! I was worred when you didn't call me back today," Lester said placing a kiss on my cheek. My spidey senses were tingling, informing me that Ranger had just seen that. I felt his presence behind me, intimidating and strong. Lester had put me down and was now staring at the floor.

"Sorry boss," he said in a quiet, almost inaudible voice and he returned to his seat in the control room. I turned around and gave him my apology face. His face was now blank, but I could see through to his eyes where a fire was burning hot. He looked jealous. Uh oh. He placed his hand on the small of my back and led me out of the room.

"Okay so what was that?," he asked when we were outside.

"A hug?," I questioned outloud, and it even sounded strained to myself. Was it just a hug, or to Lester was it more? I made my mind up then that if I was going to ever decide between the two men in my life, this time a new one added to the equation, I would have to go on the date with Lester tonight and if I could feel like I could actually be with him, I would give it a shot. If not, then I would tell him sorry but we had to remain friends.

"Steph, I don't mean to sound pushy but we have to get over to that house if I am going to get some of the stuff I want Julie to have ready when she gets here," he said, masking his emotions once more. I nodded and gave the guys in the control room a finger wave. Lester didn't even have the balls to turn around. Why wasn't that brave of him. Ranger led me out to the porsche and I slid in, him closing the door behind me. And again the ride commenced into silence.

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I was starting to hyperventilate. We were at the batcave. Located about 5 miles outside Trenton, Ranger's house was emaculate. When my breathing evened out, I stepped out of the vehicle and approached the house with Ranger walking in front of me. It looked to be three stories but I couldn't exactly be sure. As I stepped in through the front door behind Ranger, I gasped. I was stepping through the entry way and followed it into a great room. From there if you turned right, it would take you straight into the kitchen with an island in the middle, a gorgeous stove, dishwasher, and fridge, all in black. Everything in the kitchen was chrome and black. It was gorgeous. He placed his hand on the small of my back, leading me to the master bedroom on the first floor which had an attatched bathroom. The bathroom had a shower and a garden tub, two sinks in the counter. His and her towels were hanging on the towel racks on the left side of each sink. I sighed and ran my fingers over the 'hers' towel. He walked back into the bathroom and noticed my action. He hugged me to him and I wrapped my arms around him, letting him hold me for a moment. He pulled away gently and pulled me to the staircase. At the top you had to take an immediate right which led down a hallway of doors to each side. The first door on the right we came to was a large bedroom with a bay window and a connecting bathroom, and the next door was the door for that bathroom. The first door on the left was another large room but had a spiral staircase leading up to a loft area. I gasped and Ranger grinned. I had already made up my mind. This was Julie's room.

"Babe, so this is my house. What do you think?," he asked quietly.

"It's breathtaking. This room is Julie's for sure. It has to be. By the time I am done with it, she will LOVE IT! Do you know her favorite colors, movie stars, bands, stuff like that?," I asked excitedly. He nodded and handed me a list. Pink and black were her favorite colors. I knew she got black from her dad, but the pink must have come from Rachel. Her favorite movie stars were Johnny Depp, The Rock, Orlando Bloom, and Colin Farrell. When I saw Colin's name I got a hot flash. He was definitely nice to look at, that was for sure. Props to Julie for a good choice. As for her favorite bands she had Fall Out Boy, Blink 182, and Limp Bizkit. Interesting choices for a 13 year old girl but they could work with it. I already had an idea for the room, but it was just a matter of Ranger letting me do it. I turned to him and smiled.

"Carlos, how much control do I have over what can be done with this room?," I asked sweetly

"As much as you want babe. The house is yours to decorate." With those words I threw my arms around his neck and laughed.

"Yes! I can't wait to get started!," I exclaimed cheerfully. "Do I have a spending limit?"

"Babe, I already told you some time ago. What we give each other has no price tag."

"Right. Well I will need some time to plan this out but the first room should be done in the next 4 days so try to hold her off until then. I want it to be perfect when she gets here. Until then, I need to get back and get ready," I said, looking at the ground.

"Oh yeah, your date. Well just let me know when you would like to start shopping and I will tell the boys I am offline for a few hours," he said with a soft smile, placing his hand on the small of my back and leading me back out to the car. As I slid into the passenger seat, he squatted beside the car and placed a key in my hand. I shot him a questioning glance and he smiled.

"You now hold the key to the batcave. Guard it with your life," he said laughing. I nodded and then we headed back to my place. When he dropped me off I headed upstairs to get ready for my date with Lester.

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Author's Note: Okay so there is Chapter 4. I hope you all enjoyed and chapter 5 should be underway in a couple of hours. Hope you all liked and I can't wait for the reviews!
LEX