Linens and Things

Disclaimer: Janet Evanovich owns Stephanie Plum and all of her family and friends. I just like to play around in her world.

A/N: I'm supposed to be working on my other story, but I just had to post this one-shot on August 12th, Ranger's birthday. Recently, my daughter and I were watching the Disney movie, "The Game Plan" in which Dwayne Johnson (a.k.a. 'The Rock') stars as a self-centered professional football player whose precocious eight-year-daughter suddenly comes to live with him. It's a cute movie, but all the while, I kept thinking 'Ranger, Ranger, Ranger' thoughts and this little puff piece kept popping into my head. The plot here has nothing to do with that movie or with my other story or with the stores that carry the same name. Anyway, I hope you like it! :D

Ricardo Carlos Mañoso, also known on the streets as "Ranger," took a long, hot shower and got ready for bed, but he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep. On a whim, he shrugged into his seldom-used bathrobe, padded into his living room and turned on his large, flat screened television. The robe was the same one that Stephanie Plum, the object of his affection, always borrowed when she stayed at his apartment. Her most recent stay had ended that morning, so the robe still held her special scent within the folds of its luxurious fabric. Ranger closed his eyes and breathed in the delicious fragrance of the woman he could not have – at least, not at this point in his life.

Disgusted with himself, Ranger turned off the TV, stormed back into his dressing room and stripped off the robe. Then he pulled on his silky black boxer shorts and crawled into his luxurious, king-sized bed. As he settled his tired body between the cool sheets, he became acutely aware of how alone he felt. He also was bitterly aware that one of his pillows still smelled like Stephanie, too. His first urge was to toss it off of the bed, but he resisted and hugged the pillow's softness to his chest as he drifted off into a deep and peaceful sleep.

When Ranger woke up the next day, he was amazed that the pillow still held the scent of the woman with whom he was completely and hopelessly in love. Dios! If only she could be mine forever, he thought, I'd be able to hold on to more than just this pillow while I slept. On a whim, he decided to strip off the pillowcase before his housekeeper came in to tidy up the apartment. Realizing that his actions bordered on insanity, he sniffed the fabric one more time and then squirreled away the pillowcase under his pile of black sweatshirts on the back shelf of his closet.

Of course, Ranger knew that Ella would notice that the pillowcase was missing, but he had every reason to believe that she wouldn't say anything about it. Ella had a very sharp eye and he suspected that the superior housekeeper knew exactly how much her boss cared for his curly-haired sleepover guest. After all, the trusted woman washed all of his laundry – his sweaty bed linens, his intimately soiled towels and, of course, his underwear. Ella never, ever mentioned the messes Ranger sometimes made after he'd been dreaming of his Babe. And she never would.

Several months later, when Ranger returned from having been "in the wind" for a while, he looked for the robe and the pillowcase and discovered that they were no longer in the places where he had left them. It was a bitter moment for him because he'd just discovered that Stephanie had recently decided to marry her on-again-off-again boyfriend, Joe Morelli. This meant that she probably wouldn't be coming to Ranger's apartment for "safety sleepovers" anymore. This also meant that he wouldn't have another chance to obtain a Stephanie-scented pillowcase, unless he stole one from Morelli's house. And that option was just too pathetic to consider for more than a microsecond.

Feeling sorry for himself, Ranger slumped down onto the upholstered bench in his dressing room and sighed. Then he noticed a small leather chest in the corner of the room. He'd never seen that item before and his curiosity compelled him to open it. The contents of the chest lifted his spirits, even as they brought a tear to the corner of his eye. Ella definitely is getting a raise this year, he thought.

Then Ranger gently lifted the pillowcase and robe, both of which still held the unique scent of the woman he'd never have, held them to his face and sniffed.

A/N: I know, I know – it's not exactly a "Happy Birthday, Ranger!"-type of story, but my muse kept bugging me until I finally gave in. Please let me know what you think. Thanks! :D