A/N: So this is it: the final chapter. It is a very long chapter … and we almost broke it into two. But we felt that it stands best as one single chapter, so you get all of it today. Thank you again for reading and reviewing. It means a lot!

Chapter 4

We stood there for some time simply watching the boy sleep. I was able to mostly ignore the squishy feeling it gave me to imagine this was a snapshot of an impossible future—a future that would include Ranger and me looking in on our child as he slept.

As if he could read my thoughts, Ranger's low voice grumbled, "Did the little shit scare you off from ever having my love-child?"

I gave him a small smack to the center of his chest. "He's not a little shit. That's you lying there!"

He pulled me in closer, a gesture I'd like to think was made out of overwhelming emotion, but more likely he was trying to render my hands immobile. Whatever.

"Tell me he hasn't done anything completely pussy." Ranger said as he guided me out of the bedroom.

He tugged me down on the couch, my hips in the V of his thighs, my ear pressed to the warmth of his chest. "By pussy, you mean…"

"Rocked in the corner, sniveling for his mommy. Picked his nose and ate the results. Pissed his pants…"

I suppressed a smile. "There was no sniveling. He is a very brave boy." I rested my chin on my fist and looked up at him. "But if you're a retired nose-miner with bladder control issues, now is the time to tell me."

The left side of his mouth kicked up a fraction. "I'm pretty sure all kids pick their noses. I'm 99 percent certain I never-"

I cut him off with a hand to his mouth. "Good to know. Batman isn't a booger-eater. How about the bladder issues?"

His focus turned inward as he ticked through his memories, his eyes alighting when he found one worth sharing. "My brother and I received beanbag chairs for Christmas one year. Mine was black and Roberto's was lime green. He coveted my beanbag and often bullied me out of it. As you've seen, I was very small for my age and my mother forbade me from biting siblings after a somewhat bloody incident in 1982."

I snorted. "Good to know you had some social parameters."

He smiled and continued, "One day I decided enough was enough. The Transformers was coming on in less than five minutes and it was a new episode. That black beanbag was mine. Roberto swaggered in, stood in front of me a cracked his knuckles."

"Don't tell me-"

"I stood up, unzipped my pants-"

I slapped both hands over his mouth. "If you're about to tell me you peed a circle around your beanbag-"

Ranger shook his head as if I was missing the point. Tugging my hands off his mouth, he grinned and said, "How would that deter him? I had to mark my territory. Render my coveted superior throne unusable by my enemy."

Wow. I'm pretty sure I should be repulsed, but the fact that Ranger had shared a childhood memory—a potty memory no less—left me speechless. Okay, maybe I was a little repulsed.

He pulled me deeper into his chest and murmured into my hair, "I've told you before I don't share." He slipped his hands under the waistband of my jeans and traced along the path of my thong with two nimble index fingers.

I pushed up off his chest and hissed, "Well you're sharing airspace right now with a minor!" My wriggling didn't deter him one bit. One of his hands had dipped low between my legs and I bit his collarbone to suppress my moan.

"No biting," he whispered into my neck as he laved a long line from my jaw to my ear.

I pinched at his nipples through his shirt to make him stop and told him, "I'm not your sibling."

Ranger tugged my thong to one side. "Thank Christ."

And then we heard the pop.

The scent of Christmas cookies filled the air, and then, "Seriously?"

This from Diesel, who was suddenly there, hands on hips, where only a minute ago had been thin air.

"I mean, Christ, you people have a minor in the next room!" Shaking his head and adding a tsk-tsk, Diesel vanished into my bedroom.

He returned a minute later carrying a sleeping Carlos.

"What are you doing?" I asked, coming to my feet while attempting to surreptitiously straighten out my thong. Damn Ranger! I shot him a long look before turning back to Diesel and Carlos. I felt odd about him taking the little guy, all these protective urges were coming over me.

"I'm going to fix everything, so hang tight." Diesel hesitated. "And don't do anything stupid while I'm gone."

Ranger gave him a very dark look.

"I was talking to her." Diesel gestured with his chin in my direction.

"Hey," I said. "I don't do stupid things."

Both men just looked at me.

"Very often …" I moved closer and put a hand on Diesel's bicep to lean in and gently stroke the hair from my little Ranger 7.0's face. God. Just looking at him had my heart clutching. I kissed his cheek and whispered, "Please don't hold the whole two guns and a knife thing against me."

Both men gave me an odd look and I sighed as Diesel popped out.

Then Ranger pulled me back onto his lap. "What's this about the two guns and knife?"

I pressed my face to his neck, not wanting to tell him how I'd screwed him up.

He gently gripped my curls and tugged until I was looking at him. "Babe."

"I ruined you!" I burbled out. "I took you to the office and Lester showed you his guns and knife—"

"And porn."

"Ohmigod, I'm so sorry!"

"Babe."

He was laughing, I could feel his chest shaking, and I smacked him. "It's not funny. It's my own fault you that you won't have a relationship with me!"

He went still, laughter gone. "Steph."

Oh great, my name.

"Stephanie."

My full name. Even better.

He forced me to look into his dark eyes. "You were amazing with him. With me."

"How do you know?"

"Because I know you. And trust you." He paused a moment and whispered, "Because you love me in spite of who I grew up to be." And then he kissed me, long and wet and deep.

He wasn't mad. He was okay with me loving him. He—

"I love you back, Babe."

He loved me back. No qualifiers. I melted over that, and while I was still wondering where all the bones in my body had gone, he slid his hands into my clothes. "What are you doing?"

"Following Diesel's suggestion."

I was confused. "He said don't do anything stupid."

"Babe, there's nothing stupid about what I'm planning on doing."

Oh boy.

Before I could blink, my shirt was unbuttoned, my jeans unzipped, and Batman appeared to have more hands than was humanly possible.

And his mouth. Good Lord, his mouth. He knew just how to use it, and in less than two minutes, I was begging. But the thing about Ranger … he couldn't be rushed. No, he liked to take his sweet ass time driving me crazy, and I was well on my way when we heard the pop again.

"Oh for the love of Christ," Diesel muttered, still holding a sleeping little Carlos. "Is this ALL you people do?"

I jumped up with a startled shriek. Ranger rose too, and shielded me from view, helping me straighten my clothes while Diesel stood there with his hand over little Ranger's eyes—

Wait a minute. Why was he back?

"What happened?" Ranger asked him, in total control of himself while I was still breathing like a lunatic.

"Funny you should ask," Diesel said. "I popped the little guy back into your childhood bedroom. But I must have had the time messed up."

"Explain," Ranger said, the master of one-word commands.

"Well, little Carlos met teenaged Carlos, having some … 'private time' with a skin mag."

Ranger didn't move.

I didn't either but my mind went there, picturing the scene.

Diesel lay the boy down on the couch. "I've erased THAT memory for the kid but Jesus, I wish I could say the same for myself."

Not me. I wasn't sure what it said about me that I was getting a kick – and maybe a little turned on – thinking about what Ranger had been caught doing.

"Babe," he said.

Damn ESP.

Ranger let out a barely there breath. "What now?" he asked Diesel.

"I've got one more thing to try, but you're not going to like it."

"It can't get worse," Ranger said.

I all but blubbered, "It ALWAYS gets worse. Have you learned nothing from me, Ranger?" I looked around the room in panic. "Quick! Knock on some wood. Wait. That might not be enough. Throw some salt over your shoulder." I hustled to the kitchen, saw that I was out of McDonald's salt packets and came back with a five-pound bag of sugar. Holding it open in front of Ranger, I said, "Do it. It looks the same."

Ranger just smiled a soft smile at me, took the bag, rolled the top closed and set it gently on the table. Then he looked over toward the couch. Carlos was awake. Probably he heard my tirade. Not my fault. I'm Italian; we're not a quiet people.

Everyone in the room held their collective breath. Carlos stood up, stepped towards me somewhat hesitantly and reached for my hand, all the while keeping a wary eye on Ranger.

I suddenly remembered that Ranger had said that he couldn't risk the boy seeing him. I tugged the boy's hand and brought Carlos into my chest to shield his vision. My little perv didn't put up much of a fight. In fact, I could have sworn I heard him inhaling my cleavage.

"Babe."

"What? He can't see you! You said-"

Diesel unwound my arms from the boy. "We're cool. I have to erase the whole thing before he goes back anyway."

"Didn't you do that the first time?"

Diesel scowled down at the boy—who clearly knew me—and said, "Huh."

"Are you kidding me?"

"I'll try harder next time," Diesel promised.

Just great. My cross to bear in life is to be saddled with an otherworldly surfer slash unmentionable, and the one I get was in the bottom of his graduating class.

Carlos tugged on my shirt and asked, "Are you okay?"

I laughed. It was that or cry. "I'm fine," I assured him. "How about you? You're the one having the rough day."

He shrugged his shoulders and eyed Ranger again. Crap. I have to introduce Ranger. To himself. Burg etiquette had no precedence for this.

"Uh, Carlos … I'd like you to meet my friend Ranger."

"You mean boyfriend," Carlos said sullenly.

I glanced at Ranger and he offered nothing except double raised eyebrows asking if I was going to alter my introduction.

Rat bastard.

Ranger stepped forward and squatted in front of Carlos. "I'd like to thank you for taking care of Stephanie today. I appreciate it, man." Then he held out his fist for a knuckle bump.

Carlos stood a little straighter at the commendation, bumped his little mocha knuckles against Ranger's and said, "If she were my girlfriend, I wouldn't leave her out of my sight, even for a minute. She's real pretty and from what Mr. Lester says, she gets into a lot of trouble."

Ranger barked out a laugh as he stood. "I'll take that under advisement."

Turning to Diesel, Ranger asked, "What's the plan?"

Diesel had been smiling through the awkward introductions but his expression became much more serious at the question. He waved a hand at the kitchen table indicating we should all have a seat.

"I've had some time to think-"

"In the six minutes you were gone," I interjected.

Diesel gave me squinty eyes and continued. "We've got the boy and we've got the man. I don't think the trick is to just place the boy where we assume he should go, but to take him and Ranger to the place where both the boy and the man existed on the same day."

Huh?

Ranger was blank faced and Carlos was flicking his eyes back and forth between the two men, clearly trying to figure out what the heck they were talking about. I knew exactly how he felt.

Both existed on the same day? What the Hell did that mean? What day is a person both a boy and a man? Most men I know are more boy than man their entire lives … well, excluding Ranger. Okay, this is Ranger we're talking about. At some point he had to go from the adorable scrawny seven year-old sitting on my left to the amazing, beautiful man on my right. What day would he have gone from a boy to a …

"Oh, Hell no!"

"Babe?"

"I'm not gonna pop with you people to the sweaty backseat of a Chevy Cavalier! That'd be worse than what the poor kid saw not ten minutes ago!"

Ranger said with pride, "That loss of innocence happened in Miami in my grandmother's basement."

Nice. That was so not on my need to know list.

Carlos piped in, "What are we talking about?"

The three of us simultaneously answered, "Nothing."

Carlos sat back with a dejected 'humph'. Guess he didn't like being excluded from the story of the loss of his own virginity.

Ranger looked long and hard at Diesel and said one cryptic word: "War?"

"I don't think so," Diesel answered gravely. "I don't know for sure, but my gut says it was before you enlisted."

"Fuck."

"Hey! He said a swear!" This from Carlos.

Ranger's face went from blank to mildly amused in a heartbeat.

Diesel had us all stand again in the middle of the living room with our hands joined in a daisy chain. Ranger flat out refused to hold Diesel's hand. He swore it wasn't homophobia, just that Diesel made him itch. This opened a whole line of questions about 'what's homophobia?' from Carlos and it took us five minutes to get him to drop it.

So we stood there quietly, holding hands in a circle, waiting for something to happen. To say we looked bizarre was an understatement of epic proportions. I know because I peeked.

"Steph!" Diesel barked.

"Sorry." I closed my eyes and Ranger squeezed my hand.

Both Rangers.

And then there was that pop again but this time it also sounded in my head, and for a beat I couldn't see or hear anything but the rush of the blood pumping through my body.

When I could see, I realized we were standing in our circle in a … ghetto. In the hazy moonlight I could make out abandoned buildings and tall chain-linked fences running the length of the properties, with razor wire on top. Instinctively, I shift closer to Ranger, awed by the airy silence.

"I blocked everything but the locale," Diesel murmured softly as he laid his hand against a light pole. The bulb looked to have been shot out ages ago but at his touch, there was a buzz and the broken-out bulb glowed anew. "There's no one else here."

Didn't make me feel any safer. There was an air of … menace here. Violence shimmering just beneath the surface. I could hardly drag the thick, heavy air into my lungs, and it tasted weird.

Like a scary dream weird.

Or bad memories.

Little Ranger tightened his grip on my hand and I pulled him into me. We stood near the mouth of a deep alley and turned to Ranger, realizing he hadn't said a word or moved. I mean Batman was silent a lot, but this was silent on top of silent, and was odd for even him. Maybe he was in his zone. Like when he drove …

But he wasn't.

He stood there, tense and taut with the same memories the alley held, and my heart caught. He was actually pale, looking like maybe he might be sick. For years, he'd been comforting me with nothing more than a touch, so it was instinctive to try to do the same for him. I put a hand on his back and looked down the alley too, trying to see whatever he was seeing.

At my touch, he closed his eyes briefly, then gave me a barely perceptible head shake.

This wasn't anything I could comfort him through, and I wondered … what would he have had to have done here, in this spot, to become 'a man' in this alley. God. While I'd grown up in the 'burg, sneaking out of my parents house to hang out with Mary Lou and talk about boys, Ranger had …

Had done whatever he'd had to do to survive living on these streets. Had he killed here? Possibly to appease a gang?

And as though he'd heard my thought, he said, voice low and serrated, like the words cost him dearly, "No, it's what I didn't do here."

My throat closed at the look in his eyes, the regret, the pain, and I knew. There'd been a killing here, and for whatever reason, he hadn't been able to stop it.

"You can forgive that boy," I told him quietly. "Forgive yourself. After all you've done in the years since, all the good … let it go, Ranger."

Again, he closed his eyes and shook his head.

"You'll need to take the boy to the spot," Diesel told him quietly.

Carlos's grip tightened to almost painful on my hand. I dropped to my knees and did what felt right. I hugged him to me and probably squeezed the crap out of him. "I'm going to miss you."

Carlos held tight. "Don't give Joe his key back."

I laughed and cried at the same time. "And you, you keep your back to the wall, okay? Stay aware of your surroundings, and poaching is almost NEVER okay, but … there may be a time in your life when it is … and—"

"Steph," Diesel said, eyes on Ranger. "Wrap it up."

I cupped little Ranger's face. "—One last thing. If you love a girl, really love a girl, be patient with her. And—" I almost told him to remember condoms but it didn't seem right. Julie was meant to be. "Be safe." I squeezed him one last time until he squeaked. "Just be safe."

Carlos stepped back when I released him but his eyes remained locked on mine. Diesel came over, squatted in front of him and said, "I'm gonna do that little mind press thing like I did last time, okay? I promise it won't hurt. Then you're gonna walk over to where Ranger is and-"

Carlos didn't even glance at Diesel as he talked. He just tipped his chin up, held my eyes and said defiantly, "I'm not gonna forget her."

I heard Ranger swear softly as Diesel said to Carlos, "You do what you gotta do, man."

Diesel placed his hands gently on either side of Carlos' head and closed his eyes. The boy's eyes stayed open and honed on me. This went on for minutes. Diesel dropped his hands and told Ranger, "The kid's strong. He's blocking me."

Ranger shrugged as if to say, what do you want me to do about it?

Diesel sighed and said to the boy, "I need you to let go."

"No."

"Shit."

Carlos grinned.

Looking pained at what he was about to say, Diesel said, "I'm gonna tell you something important, so listen up. You're gonna grow up hard and fast. You're gonna take a lot of wrong turns, but those wrong turns are in exactly the right direction. You feel what I'm saying?"

"No."

Scrubbing his hands down his face, Diesel sighed. He glanced over at Ranger who was looking on with an expression of resignation mixed with pride. Diesel told the boy, "You're gonna grow up to be a … damn. You'll be a powerful man. Not just physically. Some people will fear you and all will respect you." Noticing that Carlos was still staring at me, Diesel added, "And you'll win the love of a woman just like Steph. I promise."

Carlos corrected, "Not a woman like her. HER."

Diesel shook his head and grinned at Ranger before looking down at the ground and muttering, "Shit." He blew out a sigh and looked back up at the kid. "If you're very lucky, perhaps. But it will take some time. And patience. And none of it can happen unless you trust me. You need to let go."

Carlos' eyes met Diesel's then, fearless and demanding. "I'm not gonna forget her." More softly he said, "I feel like I'm not supposed to."

Diesel sat back on his haunches and looked up at the eerie night sky as though communing with unseen forces there. The clouds until now had been still, lifeless, ominously dark and mostly obscuring the stars. Now they were dancing, churning, rolling forward and drawing back in waves.

Then they stilled once again.

He looked back at the child and said, "Okay. I can make you a deal."

Something sparked in Carlos' dark eyes at the word 'deal'.

"What's the deal?" the boy asked, hopeful.

"You let me into your head to do what I need to do, and in exchange, I let you keep a piece of her."

Which piece? Are we talking a lock of hair or an entire appendage? I really liked my appendages where they were and I'm pretty sure Ranger did too.

Carlos looked just as confused as me so Diesel explained, "You'll meet her again and … you'll feel her. When you're grown up, you'll … you won't know why, you won't remember any of this, but here," Diesel placed his hand in the center of the boy's narrow chest, "you'll feel her. It will confuse you but she'll already be here. It'll just take some time for you to accept it."

"How much time?" Carlos asked.

"I don't know, kid. You are a bit stubborn."

Worrying his lip between his teeth, the boy tipped his chin down and looked at Diesel's large hand. Then he nodded once, resolute.

"Deal?" Diesel asked.

"Deal," the boy whispered back.

It only took a moment for Diesel to resume their previous position and for the mind press to be complete. Diesel stood and nudged the boy toward Ranger who was still waiting at the mouth of the alley. I was a little sad that Carlos didn't so much as spare me a backward glance, but I took it as a good sign that whatever Diesel had done this time to suppress his memories had worked.

When the boy was about a three feet from Ranger, he hesitated. I wasn't sure if he was more afraid of Ranger or of the alley. With his memories erased I was sure Ranger was an imposing figure to be confronted with. And the alley itself put off such terrifyingly morbid vibes, even I could feel them crawling on my skin and coating my tongue.

But he was brave.

He shuffled forward and took Ranger's outstretched hand. Ranger said something to the boy and though I couldn't hear it, I knew instinctively what he said.

Proud of you.

The rest of the scene was obscured by some stupid water in my eyes. The next thing I knew, there was a palpable pop and Ranger was stepping from the alley alone.

I ran forward and almost knocked Ranger to the ground on impact.

Closing his arms around me he whispered, "Babe," into my hair.

Blotting my tears on his t-shirt, I muttered, "I just realized I sent you home without your underwear."

He froze for a moment, then chuckled. "I'm not gonna ask."

"He took a shower and he said-"

"Christ. The clean underwear thing?" At my nod he said, "Don't worry. Mama never checked for that kind of stuff. The not coming home without your underwear is my rule … just for you."

I looked up at him. "How is that fair?"

"Life isn't fair, Babe." He cupped my face and just stared into it for a long beat, as if memorizing my features.

"You're not going anywhere," I said, gripping him tight.

"Not without you." He looked up at Diesel and gave an almost imperceptible nod.

Diesel grinned and then there was another pop, and then I was still standing in Ranger's arms, his hands on my face, but the alley was gone.

Diesel was gone.

We were on a deck in the shadows with a sliding glass door behind us, and a long stretch of moonlit beach below of us. "Where—"

"Disappointed, Babe. Thought you'd know."

I looked at the beautiful house, at the glowing whitecaps of waves crashing onto the shore, and smiled. "The Batcave."

"Got it in one."

"So this is … forever?"

"Or until we kill each other."

I grinned. "You're so romantic."

He began to strip, and when he was gloriously naked, he stepped forward to work on my clothes.

I attempted to wriggle away while I peered over the edge of the deck. "Is this a private beach? What are you doing?"

"Going to show you romantic."

Gulp.

Several hours later, we were laying in bed with me half sprawled across Ranger, our legs entangled. He was toying with a long lock of my hair, winding and unwinding the corkscrew curl on his finger while I watched the ocean sunrise through the glass doors across from the bed.

"Ranger?"

"Mmm?"

"Do you think what happened yesterday was fate?"

He was quiet for long moments before he answered. "I'm a free will kinda guy. Not a big believer in fate."

I turned from the view outside and looked up at him, at his beautiful sleep deprived face, his silky dark hair spilling over the crisp edge of the pillow. "Even after yesterday?"

He tucked one arm behind his head and I tried not to drool at the way that action made his bicep bulge. "Especially after yesterday. Everything that happened was and example of choices, of free will."

I sputtered, "I didn't freely will Lester carte blanche over your advanced adult education!"

He gave me all 200 watts, and had I been upright, I'd have melted into a puddle at his feet. Surely I'd be immune to that smile eventually.

Ranger clasped me a little tighter and said, "I heard the things you told the boy. You could have told him to join the Peace Corps. You could have told him gangs are bad. You could have told him to never have sex without a condom-"

"You wouldn't have Julie," I answered softly.

He leaned up, cradled my face and kissed me so deep and so slow I nearly lost consciousness.

When he drew back, he whispered, "And this is why I love you."

Sigh.

I found my fingers tracing over the smooth contours of his chest, the sharp little peaks of his nipples, the rippled hills and valleys of his abdomen. Following behind my fingers with my lips, I spoke into his chest, "If Diesel popped in here with Ranger 29.0, don't think I wouldn't take advantage. Two of you would-"

In an instant I was beneath him, his muscular thigh pushing between my knees. He murmured into my neck something that sounded suspiciously like, "Information to the enemy…"

And then I lost all my thoughts. Ranger was good like that. And really, I was only teasing him.

Mostly.

The truth was, I was ruined. Deliciously, inexorably ruined. I loved it. Loved him.

And he was right all along.

One Ranger was all I'd ever need.