Disclaimer: The characters of the Stephanie Plum series belong to Janet Evanovich and are used here without permission. No copyright infringement intended.
An Atypical Stakeout
By TT
The world was soft and inviting. A gentle mist had been falling steadily, blurring the harsh lines of man’s creations. The imperfections, already blending away as the gray light of day passed into liquid twilight, blended together until, caught somewhere between times, they became a flawless masterpiece.
A short while later, the streetlights illuminated, fending off the relentless darkness caused by the thickening clouds.
The pools of orange-tinted luminescence sparkled and danced on the deep pool of blackness presented by the wet asphalt. The swarming droplets caught in their inevitable dance of death whirled and twirled more intricately than the finest ballet as they fell to those waiting pools.
The sound of tires shushing by broke the stillness of the morning.
The building across the way allowed glimpses and flickers of light to appear. Scenes of life Norman Rockwell rejected, glimpses of people as hurried as the falling mist to race through their life to achieve their end.
The life and energy of the world hummed through everything outside, through the mist, through the apartments. Everywhere there was life, but the one place it was desired. There, only cold darkness remained.
The mist began to thicken, larger droplets formed, grouping together to attempt mastery of their domain.
The increased mass of these drops, however, overbalanced them and caused gravity to overcome their deliberate attempt to claim their territory and left the water racing down the smooth surface of the windshield.
“Come on, Drip!” Stephanie whispered, her attention entirely on the two drops of water currently sliding down the windshield.
“Babe,” Ranger chided, shaking his head, but unable to keep the smile off of his face.
“They’re racing,” she replied, never taking her eyes off the drops of water. “This is Drip,” Stephanie informed, pointing to the one slightly ahead. “And this is Drop,” she added as she pointed to the other.
“We’re supposed to be looking for Marcus McCourt,” Ranger informed with a sigh.
“Right.” Stephanie straightened in her seat and tried to look like she was keeping an eye out for the skip, though her eyes never left Drip and Drop.
An unusually noticeable movement of Ranger’s chest drew her attention. Did he just sigh? “Did you just sigh?”
“The skip, Babe,” Ranger repeated.
Stephanie blinked a few times before nodding her head and staring out the window at her surroundings.
The gloom intensified around them as Darkness seemed to gather his allied, turning the morning into a mockery of night.
A shiver raced down Stephanie's spine as the damp chill of the day crept closer to her, trailing its whispery tendrils across her exposed skin.
Her eyes fluttered closed as her mind was transported to other times when the gentle grasp of the cool air was welcome, when overheated skin craved soothing caress of the air.
Then the other times intruded. The times when the cold brush of mist foretold only pain and fear. When skips hid in the shadows and waited to claim her.
Gasping, her eyes flew open and she let out a relieved breath.
Reaching up and rubbing her forehead, she glanced over toward Ranger and saw him intently scanning the area.
“You OK, Babe?” he inquired.
“Yeah,” Stephanie assured, slumping back into her seat.
Nothing more was said at the moment.
She struggled against the languid pull in her system and forced her eyes open.
Unfortunately, the lethargy that enveloped her soon reasserted itself, causing her to once more lose track of what she was to be doing.
A small mouse was creeping along the fence beside the car.
With a preternatural intensity, she watched the rodent move along.
She noticed that the small creature became more nervous the longer she stared at it and wondered why.
There was little remarkable about the mouse. It was a dark brown with a tail and little black eyes that seemed to reflect and dance in the light.
Laughter always made eyes dance.
Joe had wonderful eyes when he laughed. They danced and played.
But Joe was a shmoe.
That caused her to giggle.
“Joe is a shmoe,” she said aloud.
“Yes, he is,” Ranger agreed quietly.
At his words, Stephanie's attention drifted from the mouse to the man beside her.
He was fascinating.
His skin was smooth and absolutely edible looking.
His hair caught the pale threads of light from outside making it seem as if blessed by a divine being.
Though she couldn't see them, she knew his eyes were wonderful.
She had seen them dance in amusement, sparkle with laughter and twinkle with joy. And in every different expression she had found herself lost.
Too often his eyes were serious or blank. She hated when he hid from her behind the blank face.
She also knew his eyes were capable of exuding emotions so intense they terrified her the same way she had been terrified before her first parachute jump in college. It was a good feeling – apprehension of the unknown combined with expectation and knowledge that only wonderful things would happen.
“Look at me,” she whispered.
After scouting the area once more, Ranger turned to look at her.
Locking eyes with him, Stephanie reached forward and cupped his cheek with her hand. She studied his face for a few more minutes before moving her own face closer.
She felt more than saw the corner of his mouth twitch upward and offered a brilliant smile of her own as his eyes began to twinkle. “There you are,” she said, pleased. “You're so beautiful when you don't hide,” she murmured.
Ranger placed his hand over hers. Pulling it slightly from his face, he kissed the inside of her wrist and her palm before placing her hand in her lap. “We need to watch for the skip, Babe,” he said, his voice a kind caress.
“Right,” she agreed, still entranced by his eyes.
When he looked away, she let out a sigh and sat back in her chair, looking around.
The sky began to lighten and she looked up.
Between the rain on the windows and the mist still falling outside, she could see a halo around the streetlights. Occasionally, if she moved just right, that halo would break apart into rainbows.
“Wow,” she breathed.
Her peripheral vision picked up on Ranger turning to her with one eyebrow raised.
“There are rainbows and halos around the lights,” she informed, her voice filled with wonder.
A low chuckle escaped Ranger.
“Isn't codeine wonderful?” she asked.
“Babe,” Ranger replied, hoping the skip would come soon. Stephanie needed to be in bed. Letting out a sigh, he turned his attention back to the apartment building. At least this time, she hadn't complained about being bored.
Earlier That Morning
Stephanie groaned as she slapped at her alarm, praying to hit the right button.
It took her sleep-addled brain a few minutes to recall why she was getting up at such an absurdly early hour of the morning, especially after a late night the night before.
Cracking an eye open, she saw the numbers on the clock. They were numbers that should only be viewed in the afternoon, never in the middle of the night. An despite what Ranger said, it was the middle of the night as far as she was concerned.
Ranger.
Now there was a dangerous thought. Too bad she was too tired to force it out of her mind. An image of the man in question appeared in her mind and she found herself unable to stop the sigh that escaped. He was an amazing man, not only in looks, but also in his focus and actions.
Of course, right now, those warm feelings were taking a beating as she remembered how he had tricked her into pulling a surveillance shift with him that morning, not to mention the time in the gym continuing their self-defense lessons before that.
She still didn't want to believe he could stoop so low just to get his way, but he did.
He'd said 'please'.
Unfair, conniving man. He used the one word that he knew, without a doubt, would cause Stephanie to agree to whatever he proposed.
Of course, it was hard to understand why the word held such power coming from him when Joe used it and she was still able to resist.
Maybe it was just what they were using it for.
That was way too in-depth for thoughts this early in the morning.
It took all of her effort,but she was able to drag herself from her bed and stagger to the shower.
Once finished there, and only slightly more awake, she stumbled out to the kitchen and hastily attempted to make coffee. She only missed the filter once when she was scooping those precious crystals into the machine.
As soon as the coffee maker began burbling, she sought out her dishcloth and wiped up the grounds of coffee that had escaped their due fate.
Satisfied she had no stray coffee roaming free-range about her kitchen, she pulled out the peanut butter jar as well as her sliced bread.
Retrieving two slices, she set them on the freshly-wiped counter and opened the peanut butter.
After a few seconds of staring at the now open jar, she realized she would need a knife in order to get the peanut butter out of the jar and spread it on the bread.
It was as she reached for the drawer that she heard the blessed noise that meant the coffee was finished.
Hurriedly, she set the peanut butter jar down on the counter, grabbed her mug and eagerly filled it with the pitch-black brew.
With the greatest of reverent care, she brought the cup up to her mouth and took a sip.
A shiver raced through her body as her eyes fluttered closed for a moment before opening wide.
Perhaps eight teaspoons of coffee for two cups was a little much, but she was already feeling more alert.
Careful of the hot beverage, she managed to swallow down about half of it before she set it aside.
Already feeling more energetic, she picked up the knife, only barely registering it was one of the really sharp knives her mother had given her, but it should still work for getting the peanut butter out. Besides, she really liked the nice, heavy handle on it.
Humming tunelessly to herself as she coated the bread, she missed the sound of her locks tumbling.
“Babe.”
A high-pitched squeak escaped Stephanie as she dropped both the knife and the peanut butter jar.
The knife fell handle-first and landed squarely on the top of her foot, just where the toes joined.
The jar of peanut butter hit the floor and bounced once before flipping over and landing on Stephanie's foot in the exact same place the knife had before bouncing off her foot and hitting the knife, causing the sharp point to slip at least a quarter in into her leg against which it had been resting.
As soon as the knife had hit her foot, Stephanie had gasped in pain and her hand had lashed out, catching the half-full mug of hot-coffee, causing it to hit the floor, shatter the mug and the hot contents to splash across Stephanie's other foot.
The shriek of pain was something Stephanie couldn't have stopped if she'd tried.
She instinctively staggered back as pain blossomed in her feet and quickly telegraphed its way through her entire system.
Unfortunately, the coffee caused her to lose her footing and slip.
Ranger caught her before she hit the ground and met her eyes. Seeing the tears of pain, he gently teased, “Next time I'll make some noise.”
An hour later found Stephanie getting ready to leave her emergency room cubicle.
She was now the proud owner of a severe bone bruise on one foot. First degree burns on the other and three stitches in her ankle.
The doctor who treated her had prescribed codeine for the pain she was suffering and told her to stay off her feet for a few days.
Though she knew he would never admit it, given the way he had reacted and was treating her, Stephanie was fairly certain Ranger felt guilty about startling her and triggering the accident. She certainly didn't hold it against him, given her past, she probably could have accomplished as much on her own, but, maybe, just maybe, she could use this as an excuse to get out of doing a torturous four hour surveillance shift.
A closer look at Ranger, however, and she suddenly thought about calling her father for a ride. She was seeing things in Ranger's poster and face that she dreaded seeing. Though she'd never seen the expression on Ranger's face before, she had seen it on her mother's often enough to know what it meant.
Ranger was entering “Mother Hen” mode.
A shudder of dread raced down Stephanie's spine. She hated “Mother Hen” mode, but somehow knew it was futile to try and escape Ranger.
She already knew what she was in for – constant monitoring of her every move. Limited ability to do anything or even be alone while the “Mother Hen” smothered her with attention. Her greatest fear was that he was going to lock her in his apartment and not let her go for the next few days.
As she opened her mouth to assure Ranger she was ready to go home and that he didn't have to bother with her, the doctor came back in with a small bottle of pills and one in a cup.
“You need to take this now and these according to the instructions on the bottle when you get home,” he informed, handing her the single pill in the cup.
Before she could say anything, Ranger was beside her offering her a cup of water.
Opening her mouth to ask what it was he had prescribed, Stephanie was cut off before she could utter a sound.
“Take it, Babe,” Ranger said.
Stephanie took the pill while looking at Ranger, trying to decipher the tone of his voice. It was something she hadn't heard before and she couldn't quite identify it.
Pill duly taken, she turned to the doctor, who was finishing her chart and had just turned to leave, “What was that?”
“Hmm?” the doctor said, looking up. “Codeine.”
As he exited the cube, he missed the string of curses that escaped Stephanie.
“Babe, calm down,” Ranger said, clearly worried.
Stephanie glared at Ranger. “Codeine and I don't get along very well,” she informed, crossing her arms in front of her.
“Do they make you sick?” he asked. “We can get some food if it upsets your stomach.”
“No stomach problems,” Stephanie assured. Taking a deep breath, she informed, “But I'm not entirely... coherent while I'm on it.”
“We'll be fine Babe,” Ranger assured. “And after we're done with the stakeout I'll bring you back to my place and take care of you until you're up and about again.”
Before she could protest either the stakeout or the care, Ranger kissed her soundly, leaving her stunned just enough for him to gather her things and make sure she was ready to go.
He then picked her up and carried her out of the hospital, despite her protests.
Depositing her in the car, he buckled her in, swatting her hands away when she tried to do it herself.
By the time they reached their location, the skies had become overcast and the codeine had taken effect.
End