A/N: Taking a few liberties here, so it's AU. Also going with the theory that like in AFILAW, Ranger and Lester are cousins.

Not mine & not making any money. Part one of two for TT's challenge on PP.

Heads

The rain beat down on the truck roof as Ranger and I sat there in silence, watching the skip's shitty apartment. I hadn't done surveillance with my cousin in months – usually I partnered with Bobby, but he was out with a stomach bug.

I hated pulling shifts with Ric, as the bastard had this amazing zone that meant he could remain silent for hours at a time. I was bored to tears, having already sung '99 bottles of beer on the wall' in my head all the way through twice.

I shifted in my seat and began to count the raindrops on the windshield, giving up at one hundred and forty two, as the damn things kept moving. I glanced at Ric, wondering if he was still breathing as he was so silent. Yup, he was – he could always do the silent shit better than me. Crap, he could always do everything better than me.

I grew up in Miami, three houses down from him, and for as long as I could remember, Ricardo Manoso had been kicking my ass at everything I ever tried to do. It didn't matter what it was, he just did it better, faster or easier. Damn, he could even hotwire a car faster than I could, and I was shit hot at that. Forever stuck in his shadow, that was me.

I had three sisters, and while Ric had three too, he also had a brother, so I spent a lot of time hanging out over at his place, though I often wondered why. He never set out to be better than me, it was just something that he did by accident, but it never failed to piss me off.

There's only a year between us, and we'd started noticing girls about the same time, unfortunately for me, they only had eyes for Ric. I had three inches in height on him – and still do, but he had the bulk and the muscles. I was the gangly one – the one the really hot girls tried to set up with their not-so-pretty best mates.

Things changed when Ric left for the army. I became my own person, bulked up a little and finally got the cute chicks. For the first time in my life I was front and centre, not skulking at the back behind Ric, and damn, it felt fucking good.

I still don't know what made me follow Ric into the army, I guess looking back now, I did idolize him a little and maybe I hoped to get a reputation like his. He was doing well and we both knew that he'd make the Rangers. I'd doubted that I would. Oh, I was good, don't get me wrong – but I didn't have the cool attitude that Ric did, and I was always putting my foot in my mouth and pissing someone off.

So I'd been amazed and proud when I was put forward for the Rangers. My hard work had paid off and I was finally getting somewhere in life. Though it turned out that it was Ric that got me in, he'd recommended me to his commanding officer. Ric had thought that he'd done me a favor, when in reality he'd pretty much kicked me in the nuts. I never told him how much his actions had hurt, it just wasn't worth the hassle.

Ric was 22 when he met Rachel. She was so damn fine – she'd tried to set me up with her sister. Somethings just never seemed to changed. They had pretty serious relationship going on every time he was back in town on leave. One time while we were both back home he'd got called up unexpectedly – the Delta boys had wanted to get their hands on him. So off he'd gone, not looking back.

It was a month later that Rachel turned up on my doorstep looking for Ric. He'd not told her where he was going and she was pretty pissed. We'd sunk more than a few beers, and then ended up in bed together. We both woke up in the morning and realized it had been a stupid thing to do, and to this day neither of us ever mentioned it again.

I was in Iraq when I got a letter from Ric. He was getting married and Rachel was pregnant. I wasn't surprised. But what did surprise me was the date the baby was born – nearly ten months after Ric left for Delta Force. Oh Juile looked like Ric alright, but then again, Ric looked like me.

A rumble of thunder shook me from my dark musings and I sighed. It was for the best. Ric had a hell of a lot more money than me and could provide for Rachel and Juile, even though the relationship hadn't lasted. What could I have offered Rachel when all she wanted Ric?

I doubted Ric knew that he was playing father to my own daughter, but what good would come from telling him? It had been the hardest decision that I had ever made.

So here I was: Lester Santos, age 32 and still living in the shadow of Ricardo Manoso. Sure, he'd given me a job, but I always thought it was out of pity more than anything else.

I scrubbed my hands over my face and let out another sigh.

Ric looked over at me. "It's always interesting doing surveillance with you," he mused, "you always seem to spend the whole time soul searching."

I snorted.

"Cousin," he continued, "secrets are a heavy burden to carry alone."

"You can't help me with this, I need to work through this by myself," I explained.

Ric raised an eyebrow. "A problem shared is a problem halved, bro."

"I just want to be good at something," I muttered finally.

"You are, Les," Ric said as he squeezed my shoulder and looked straight into my eyes. "You're a damn clever strategist, and you know it. I'll never understand why you didn't take up that job for the government, I sometimes think your talents are wasted here in Trenton with me.

I just shrugged. "Didn't want to be too far away from you and the family, man."

Gotta keep an eye on my daughter's father and make sure he's safe, I thought to myself. I should tell him the truth, but I can't bring myself to do it. Fuck, I'm a bastard.