Author's note

This idea popped into my head, how funny it would be if Ranger tried to bury something in the backyard and was caught by his babe. That image didn't leave me alone and it turned into this.

Originally it was supposed to be a one shot and then got longer and longer. Then Cara245 came along and made a couple of suggestions, making my muse do the happy dance (she is still doing it despite me growling at her for not helping me write the next chapter of Innocent).

So here we are a few thousand words later.

I hope you like it.

A huge Thanks to Cara245, ADI2DE and jenio1, as well as my friends Danielle and Ashley, who gave me ideas for the scavenger hunt list., because that was the one thing my muse refused to help me with.

Enjoy!

Ranger's POV

"Steph is going to kill you for this!" My cousin remarks and I shoot him a glare.

"I know" I growl at him. "But I want to win this thing…to settle this once and for all between TPD and Rangemen."

"Lo único que quieres es obtener uno de Morelli (You just want to get one over on Morelli)" Hector says with a small smile.

"Less talking more digging…we only got a small timeframe to do this" Tank growls from above as he drops the black body bag next to him on the ground.

"RANGER" My wife shouts across the dark backyard and I flinch. She only calls me that when she is angry or we are at Rangemen.

"Dog house here I come" I mumble making my friends snicker.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?" She shouts and stares at me from above.

"We are digging a hole" I point out the obvious.

"Well Captain Obvious, I can see that." Babe says with an annoyed look on her face. "But Why?"

I quickly pull myself out of the hole and drag her a few meters away from where the guys are digging "That is classified, Babe."

"You are digging a grave in our backyard and you are telling me it's classified?" She shout whispers and it won't take long before she reaches Rhino mode.

"Babe…don't get so upset…it is not good for the baby" I point out, which is a huge mistake.

"What is not good for the baby is, that I am awake at 3 am and you guys causing a ruckus out here. You are all trained military men…didn't they teach you stealth and working in silence?" She screeches.

"Babe…please… We will keep it quiet I promise" I assure her and stir her back to the house.

"I hope that this body is only staying her temporarily or I will dug a grave for you right next to it" She says and stomps away, making me smile. "You got nothing to smile about Mr." She adds over her shoulder, which results in me smiling even more. God, I love that woman.

If I were to tell her what we are really doing here, she would get even madder and I would be even more in trouble than I already am. I assume the couch will be my new best friend for the next few days.

"Is this really worth it?" Bobby questions as I jump back into the hole.

"Yes… Morelli still thinks he is better than me…this will teach him." I reply and pick up my shovel.

"Less talking, more digging" Tank growls again in his commanding voice. He was the hardest to convince to do this. Les of course jumped at the chance and Bobby only joined to keep an eye on him. My best friend, though, said it was childish. But as I told him what really was at stake, he joined in. Of course it didn't take long for the rest of Rangemen Trenton to get a wind of this and request to join too. But this right here, the core team had to do alone. I don't think Steph would have appreciated if all her Merry men appeared in the middle of the night in her backyard.

15 minutes later we are dumping the black body bag into the ground and fill the hole with dirt again.

"How long do you think it will take him to come looking here?" My best friend asks as we are standing around the filled up hole with beers in our hands. We dug the hole at the edge of the forest of the 1500 m2 property Steph and I own, which is located in Hamilton Township at the Veterans Park.

"He will be here the latest tomorrow afternoon." I guess. "Ocultar bien? (Did you hide it well)? I question and look at Hector.

"La posibilidad de que él considera que es cero (The chance that he finds it is zero)" Hector answers.

"Good" I nod. "Alright let's get some shut eye. Work at 0600 hours" I order and we all move inside the house. The guys are going to crash here, since it would take them too long to get home.

Steph's POV

I look to me right and find my mocha-latte Cuban lying next to me, fast asleep. He didn't bother to shower, and still has a little bit of dirt on his cheek. I am mad at him and also curious of what that was all about last night. But since he remained tight lipped, I have to go and investigate at Rangemen. A few bribes here and there and my merry men will spill their guts.

One glance at the clock tells me that all of them will have to get up in half an hour, so I fell a quick decision to make them breakfast.

I quietly drag my ass out of our 1000 threat count sheets; take care of my morning business, before I waddle down to the kitchen. I am 7 months pregnant and my feet are swollen, I have to pee every ten seconds, but I wouldn't change it for the world. I can't wait to welcome our son or daughter into the world. It just sucks that I can't be as quick on my feet anymore, since there is always my huge stomach in the way.

I take everything I need out of the fridge and load five trays of bacon into the oven. I know…shock…I learned how to cook. I surprised myself with that actually.

As we bought this house, put in this great looking kitchen and next thing I knew I asked Ella to teach me how to cook and my mother how to bake. Both women were more than thrilled to pass their knowledge along. I am not great at it, but I haven't managed to poison us yet.

As the coffee brews and I hear the first signs of life from upstairs, I start cooking the eggs. I know they will complain a great deal about the fact that it isn't healthy and that they will need to spend twice as long on the treadmill, but I don't care. Mommy-to-be needs to eat and thankfully our child seems to take after me, food wise, much to Carlos's dismay. I don't think I could have lived 9 months without my tasty-cakes and meatball-subs.

"Ah beautiful, it smells delicious" Les compliments as he strolls into kitchen and places a kiss on my cheek. "But you know I have to watch my weight."

"Pfft…as if" I snort and he shoots me a grin.

"How is my nephew today?" He questions and places a hand over my ever growing stomach.

"Take you hand of my wife, Santos" Carlos growls as he walks into the kitchen too. I hand him and Lester a cup of coffee and start plating the first badge of scrambled eggs.

"Morning Babe" Carlos wraps his arms around me, as I crack more eggs into the pan, and runs a soothing hand over my belly. Our kid immediately wakes to its daddy's touch and starts kicking up a storm.

"Don't think I have forgotten about last night" I murmur, making Lester laugh.

"Copy that" Carlos replies and places a kiss on my cheek.

"So are you going to tell me what last night was all about? And why a dead body is now buried in the back yard?" I question and look from Lester to Carlos and back.

"Little girl…the lesser you know the better" Tank answers for his friends as he strides into the kitchen. He too places a kiss on my cheek, before taking a seat on the breakfast bar.

"Yeah…yeah…I know it's clasisfied" I mutter under my breath and go back to cooking the eggs.

"POLICE" A voice shouts and bangs on the door. "OPEN UP."

"I am coming" I shout back annoyed from the other side of the house. This house is so massive that it takes me five minutes to walk from one end to the other in my pregnant state. "What do you want Joe?" I ask as I throw the door open.

"We have a warrant to search you backyard." My Ex-Boyfriend informs me and thrusts a piece of paper into my hands.

"What? Search warrant? Why?" I find myself inquiring stunned, before my heart beat kicks up a notch as I remember what the guys buried last night.

"It's all written on there" Joe taps the piece of paper in my hand and motions for the uniformed officers to follow him. "Right this way guys."

"HOLD ON…the house has just been cleaned. Either you guys take of your shoes or you go around!" I say sternly and give them my best jersey glare. "Just because you are here serving a warrant doesn't mean you can forget your manners, Morelli!"

"Whatever" Joe retorts and walks back out.

They look over every inch of our property. With every inch they get closer to the spot, my heart beats a little quicker. By the time they dig up the black body bag which Rangemen just hid last night, my clothes are soaked with sweat.

I groan and fully expect Joe to turn around and arrest me on the spot. Giving birth in prison really wasn't on my bucket list. Carlos is going to pay for this!

"You have got to be kidding me!" Joe shouts and stomps his feet like a little child. "Where the fuck did he hid it?" He turns around and glares at me. His face is bright red and I can see steam coming out of his ears.

"What are you talking about?" I ask confused.

"You don't know?" He looks at me like I am a criminal he is interrogating.

"Again…What are you talking about?" I repeat myself while walking down the steps to the back yard and make my way over to where he is standing. As I see what is in the body bag, I have to keep myself from laughing out loud.

The bag is filled with countless of doughnuts, tootsie rolls, cupcakes, tasty cakes and a note is lying on top of it saying 'Enjoy '.

"This isn't funny, cupcake. I want to know where they hid it!" Joe growls.

"I don't know where IT is, because I don't know what the heck you are talking about! Now get of my property" I say and point towards the front gate.

"Alright…but tell Manoso this isn't over. I will find it and I will win" He says through gritted teeth and starts walking away.

"Ohh…I think you forgot something" I tell him and point at the hole as he turns around. "You are not going to make a pregnant woman fill that, do you Joe?" I add in an overly sweet tone.

"Of course he won't" Eddie assures me and hands Joe a shovel.

"What is going on with Joe and you? What did you take?" I lean against the doorframe of my husband's office and raise an eyebrow at him. I am surprised how calm I am about the whole thing.

"And don't babe me…" I say sternly as he is just about to answer. "The whole TPD just served a phony search warrant at our place. They dug through the whole backyard. So are you going to tell me what they are looking for?"

"I didn't think he would actually involve a judge!" Carlos remarks and looks back at me.

"What are they looking for, Carlos?" I repeat in my don't bullshit me voice.

"Babe… I…" He starts up, but in that moment his desk phone rings. "Yo…copy that."

"Sorry Babe gotta go. Break in at the jewelry store on State Street." Carlos informs me and presses a kiss on my mouth in passing.

"Lucky you…being saved by the phone" I mutter and he chuckles.

"I am a quite lucky person" He grins and then jogs away, leaving me with unanswered questions.

"Yo...what's up with the rumor of Rangemen and TPD having a scavenger hunt?" Lula asks immediately as I step into the Bonds Office. I may not work here anymore, but I still like to come in and keep the girls from working, much to Vinnie's dismay.

"What? I don't get a 'Hello, how are you?' anymore? I think I deserve that, when I come bearing Doughnuts" I grin at her and seat myself on the couch.

"Yeah…yeah…" Lula waves me off and adds. "So…scavenger hunt?"

"What Scavenger hunt?" I ask confused and place my feet on the nearby seat. Lula immediately grabs the box of doughnuts from me lap.

"God I am starving" She mutters and takes out a Boston crème.

"You haven't heard?" Connie raises an eyebrow and stops filing her nails. I just shake my head as answer.

"So apparently someone from Trenton organized a scavenger hunt between Rangemen and TPD…" Lula informs me.

"…Rumor has it that Morelli and your batman want to settle their business once and for all. See who the better man is…" Connie ads.

"Yeah…so both teams, again this is just a rumor, have to collect and do things around the city. Apparently someone…" Lula says and Connie motions towards Vinnie's door "…Keeps score."

"20 Things are on that list. Whoever gets the Item first or hands in the evidence that they did the task, wins that round." Connie pipes in again. "Uncle Jimmy said that half of Trenton is betting on the teams. It's big money apparently."

"And another rumor is that Rangemen is in the lead…by a lot" Lula concludes.

"When is this thing supposed to end?" I ask.

"On Sunday. They will meet on the Square in front of the Police station, to show off their collections." Connie tells me and starts filing her nails again.

"Apparently the rules were changed half way through and now either one of the competitors can steal the other team's stuff" Lula points out as she picks up a doughnut.

"Yeah, I heard that too" Connie says as she starts applying nail polish, pink is her color today. "Rumor has it that Ranger suggested it himself."

"So Vinnie keeps score?" I question and both of them nod. "Has he got the list too?"

"No, apparently that's being held by a fourth party. No one knows who organized it or who is holding the list, if it even is the same person" Lula replies. "I am really surprised they didn't include you."

"Lula…we both know that, that score they want to settle is really about Steph. Ranger wants to humiliate Morelli on his home turf and once and for all make it clear to Morelli and Trenton that he is the better man for Steph. And Morelli needs to score points with the Burg, after what he did to Steph."

"Well this is definitely better than, them beating the shit out of each other" I remark and both of them look at me as if I am insane.

"Nah…I would love to see Ranger vs. Morelli. Two fine specimens fighting has its perks. And it is so romantic" Connie gushes and fans herself with her hands.

"Nothing romantic about it, when you worry that one can kill the other. Ranger certainly knows his way around a human body, or he wouldn't have made it through the hell Uncle Sam keeps dropping him in." I point out.

"You are right about that Babe" Carlos grins at me from the door. "And I certainly know my way around a human body in other situations as well." HOLY HOT FLASH!

"What are you doing here?" I say to change the subject. I know that he knows his way around my body all too well, and I'd rather not think about that in front of other people or I may be tempted to rip his clothes off right here.

"Just drove by…figured you'd be here." He replies and gives me a panty ruining kiss. "Later." With that he walks out the door, leaving my dizzy self behind.

Good? Bad? Interested? There is more to come