a/n not entirely within Take a Chance arc...tho does not contradict it.
A
Strange Story
....................
Evening/beach day
Ranger can walk this shore in
silence for hours. But usually his features relax and his eyes become calm and
dense and I can tell that he is happy. This evening that doesn't happen. Ranger
is waiting. For what?
His head turns a fraction towards
me. I can't see his eyes, he is wearing black mirrored sunglasses.
He starts to speak, but halts.
Ranger is usually quiet to the point of silence, but I have never known him to
be inarticulate. Spare of words, yes; wordless, no.
He stops and reaches out to me.
holding my wrists. I turn and face him as we stand by the shore. The sun is
behind his head, an incongruous glowing rose halo.
Ranger slides his sunglasses to the
top of his head. His hair is dark and cut very short these days. It suits him,
but I miss his long wonderful silky black hair. Ranger has beautiful hair, like
a shampoo ad, Ranger has supermodel hair.
Maybe that's why he cuts it short
now.
Ranger is waiting for me to focus
and finally I quit staring at his beautiful face, those eyes, that mouth, the
white teeth, the full sexy lower lip. Skin like brown satin. Uh….
''Babe.''
''Yeah?''
''Babe, I have to go out of town for
awhile.''
Noooooo!
Oh god please no!
I say nothing of course. I am a good
soldier’s wife, even though Ranger is not exactly a soldier. Is he? And I am
not his wife.
He says, "I want you to know
this…."
''That you are leaving?''
Leaving me?
''That I love you. I never really
told you that, not exactly. Not in words. And I know you like words, babe, even
if you don't always want to talk about
things.''
''Huh?''
''Stephanie. Never doubt that I love
you. I have always loved you, I always will. Even if....''
''If?''
''If I, uh, don't come back. Promise me that you
will never wonder, never be uncertain of my feelings for you.''
''I love you too. I always will.''
''I know, babe.''
''Um. Do you think you will not be
coming home?''
I am screaming inside.
''I'm sure I'll be fine, home soon,
no problemo. But you never know.''
''Great, Ranger, that's fucking
great.''
He smiled wide and I forgot that I
was mad. I just looked at him, memorizing him.
He said, ''I have one more favor to
ask you, Steph.''
''Sure.''
''If I don't come back---can you
love Anthony? He will love you like I do and he will take care of you forever.
I couldn't leave if I thought you'd go back to Morelli.''
Okay,
now this is weird, I thought. I love Anthony, I do. He is wonderful and
beautiful and very like Ranger. I know he loves me too, he has stayed in the
shadows because he loves Ranger too.
I said, "I'm confused.''
''But you love Antonio, right.''
''Um. Yeah?"
"So, okay."
''But why isn't he going on this job
with you?''
"I'll make him stay here.''
''But then if you don't come back
the next time HE will go. And then what, Ranger? Lester? Tank? I'll work my way
through all the guys?"
''Whoever. Just not Morelli.''
Then I ask, ''Are you going to explain about
yourself and Anthony and Lester and????''
''Ranger.''
?
?
''Babe.''
I said, ''Is this how you guys
really look?''
''What?''
''Are you really---a human being?
Homo sapiens?''
''Babe!''
He is grinning.
''Yes. I am really a human being and
yes this is how I really look. Jesus, Steph, you think I really look like
Godzilla or Darth Vader or something? Chewbacca, maybe? Geez.''
''So that's it? You are human? But
not from here. Not from---this planet.''
''Shit.''
''What?"
''How can you tell, no one ever gets
that.''
''Every once in awhile you guys make
weird mistakes, like that time when Joe talked about picket fences and forever. And you
all have such extensive ESP and psychic powers. Not to mention the locked doors
thing.''
''Locked doors?''
He is doing a very cute clueless,
but I know he knows what I mean.
I huff, ''Those things are not
normal, Ranger. We don't have that here on Earth. And you guys, like you and
Anthony and Les to an extent, you are just too close, too much one person in
two or three bodies. You never cared if Anthony kissed me, because it was
really you. Only not.''
He was nodding and smiling.
''Okay here's the truth. Our
cultures separated eons ago. Our genetic evolution is similar but different.
Reproduction is through artificial means and uses cloning.''
''Yeah, right. If you guys are
clones how come Anthony has blond hair?''
''Genetic anomaly in the chromosomal
sequence valuations.''
Oh
fer chrissakes.
''You know, babe, one of the great
things about being sent here to earth is the sex.''
I
am not sure I wanted to know that.
He turns on the sexy and I don't
care where he'd come from or why or when.
I laugh and say, ''This is all just
nonsense.''
Ranger nods a fraction. "Fantasy."
"Make believe…"
He smiles wide.
''You are who you are. And I love
you.''
''Good to know."
.................
Later~~~
''You certainly succeeded in
distracting me from this suicide mission you're going on!''
We rolled across the big white bed
in the big white beach house, laughing, kissing.
the
end
17 comments:
The whole alien thing makes me think of when Anthony told her about their families (in take a chance?). It could be true. Would make sense... but maybe not. Just one possibility and a great distraction.
''Who are you? What are you? Where do you come from?''
LOL. The first thing that popped into my head was "Mars"!
Thank you. You know I've been having withdrawals missing your world.
I'm so greedy. I want to see more and more and more.
What a great present.
Hunter
I love your stories, there funny, quirky and seriously hot.
LOL, I can't decide if Ranger was just messing with her head to be funny, or being funny to distract her from getting too close to the truth!! Hmmm.... Could be either?? (hahahaha!)
That ESP thing always had me baffled as well, but aliens? I guess such male perfection doesn't occur naturally on this planet - at least we can't seem to find any evidence of it existing on the internet. Close, but never quite Ranger-perfect.
Sunny, your stories are always entertaining and thought-provoking. :)
Wanda 517
I like the idea of Ranger, Anthony and Les being aliens. Gees, I'm living vicariously through your Ranger World - sad but true LOL. Can't wait for the next story.
Cherie9948
So happy to see a new story. I love the whole series and am constantly checking for updates and new stories. Thank you for creating such a fun Plum AU.
As always, I love your stories. I was thinking that a new, long chapter story would be such a wonderful thing to read....❤
Toots
Although I hate the thought of Ranger not coming back, and dying on a suicide mission, the fact that he talked to Steph about it and asked her to love Anthony was beautiful...and at the same time heartbreaking. I could just see Ranger's almost smile at her question about what she was supposed to do when Anthony went...was she just supposed to go through all his men? I think I'd love to see Antonio get his chance to truly love Stephanie if something happened to Ranger, and Ranger's explanation was truly interesting and even made me believe it was possible. At the same time, I think Steph could never probably love anyone the way she loves Ranger, and of course, nobody else would be able to understand how she could go from loving Ranger to loving Anthony or ranger's men. I wonder if she'd ever truly accept his (Ranger's) death.
I simply adore your Mercenary Ranger World. It has become my favorite "go to" place in fan fiction. Thank you so much for creating it for us and sharing it with us. You give us so much joy and happiness.
Maggie M.
Vulcan Rider
geeze Ranger scare her half to death why don'tcha!!!
i like when his/her rambling gets to bizarre like that...but he said the words...
to have HIM worried that he's talking to steph about it BUT with everything he is he' STILL worried about Morelli!!! insert eye roll here....anyone just not Joe. LOL!!!
"You never cared if Anthony kissed me, because it was really you. Only not." Ah, yes, this explains everything. Or not. :)
I love the Steph/Ranger/Anthony triangle... so much better than that other triangle!
Les loves her in fanfic world like anthony loves her in your world and he and Ranger are related...knowing how she loves him the same as he loves her, how can he ask her to love someone else...oh she loves Anthony but there are different kinds of love..i like what she told him about working through all the guys...i love the love of r/s souls.
Christmas tree story.
Omg lizzy do whatever you have to do to protect that story as yours and YES do exactly what you mentioned to me in the email. Good luck. Keep me poste- Bonnie
a strange and wondrous tale.
Everytime Ranger gets talking evasive like that to steph it makes me worry,lo, and giggle.:-)
He
She's liable to drive herself nuts trying to figure him and the guys out...aliens indeed!:-)
Here it is two years later, and I still think a chapter story would be a great idea. I miss your Plum world, with your wonderful characters and story lines.
~Toots
sweet story as always.
maybe you can add a chapter to one of your ongoing stories while it's too cold to go out..
you're sorely missed.
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