Author's Note: All characters are property of Janet Evanovich (though I'm willing to take Ranger off her hands if she ever wants to give him up). I'm not earning any money for this.

One day I was going to move far away from Jersey. Somewhere warmer, where snow wouldn't be a problem. Did they have tastykakes in Hawaii? I put the POS Toyota I was driving into gear and embraced the fact that until that day I was stuck here, suffering through Trenton's worst winter in sixty years.

I pulled onto the interstate wondering what Batman had put on the menu tonight. My trip up to the Rangeman Cabin had a twofold purpose. Firstly, I could avoid my mother and the Italian inquisition into just why I hadn't brought Joe to dinner with me. And secondly, I could eat without resorting to finding out just what was in that last unlabelled can in my pantry. I'm almost sure it was human food and not left over from when Bob was living with me. The freezing weather had meant that most of Trenton's lesser criminals had decided that a heated prison cell was preferable to running around, hiding out from me. For Christmas last week a guardian angel had arranged to pay my rent for the next two months, removing one of the immediate problems threatening to overwhelm me (It was kind of creepy how he seemed to know exactly what was going on with my life). It was a shame that I couldn't expect him to remove that other problem, by telling my mother just why Joe and I hadn't been seen in public together for the past 3 months.

Joe and I were in an 'off' phase at the moment. And by 'off' I meant that if he and his 'boys' came near me again, I was going to rip them off. Finding your boyfriend in bed with Terry Gilman will bring out those feelings in a woman. Shortly after this discovery, Joe had gone out of town on an assignment, and somehow the 'Burg grapevine had missed the whole thing. Now that Joe was back we were civilly avoiding each other, which means to say that Joe was staying away from me and the threats of violence he knew were simmering just below the surface. Hey, he wasn't stupid. He'd witnessed my divorce from the Dick. I'm almost positive that Ranger knew I was single though. See above ability to know exactly what was going on in my life. He hadn't stepped up from his usual kisses and caresses in the alley but then he also hadn't really had a chance to. A week after I found Joe and Terry doing the horizontal mambo, and 6 days after Joe had gone undercover, Tank had called me to say that Ranger had been deployed on a mission. He had arrived back on Christmas Eve after a thorough debriefing in Washington. I had hoped that he would stop by my apartment to give me a 'thorough debriefing', but no luck. With Joe risking life and limb if he ever dared to share breathing space with me and Ranger in the wind, it had been me and my shower massager for 94 long days. Not that anyone was counting. Certainly not me.

So here I was driving up to the Rangeman Cabin for dinner with Ranger, Tank, Bobby and Lester. Normally one of the guys would drive me but they were already up there for a week of skiing and snowboarding. The A-team had decided that they needed some R & R, so contractors and the second string were taking care of Rangeman with Hal and Cal in charge. They had invited me to come boarding with them, Lester was adamant that he could teach me in one afternoon, but I think that Bobby was relieved when I expressed my thoughts that I seemed to get into enough trouble with two feet firmly on the ground. As the medic, it would have been his job to patch me up again. Since the cabin was about two hours drive north, I was planning on staying the night in a spare bedroom. I could already picture the Rangeman caveman routine if I attempted to drive home at night, in the snow, on unfamiliar roads, after a glass of wine or two.

I pulled up the driveway and pressed the intercom. The gates swung inwards and I parked in the now open garage. Cabin? This was a cabin like Joyce Barnhardt was a human being. I mean sure the basic structures were the same but scratch the surface and you could not be more wrong. It was two storeys tall and screamed luxury. It seems that after years of crawling through jungles and marching through deserts that the guys had decided their roughing it days should only occur when ordered by the government. Not that I was complaining, the truth was I had been a little worried about having to shower using a boiler and a washcloth. I walked through the passageway into the living room and was swept into a Tank-sized bear hug, dropping my duffle bag on the floor.

"Hey Bomber! You made it!" he said, swinging me around and putting me back down.

"Tank! How was your Christmas?"

"You know, the usual. Spent time with the family and ate too much."

Lester's voice came from across the room as he came down the stairs in sweats and a painted on t-shirt, "Ate too much? Don't let the Bossman hear that or he'll send you to the gym. He's been on a major health-bent recently. I had to smuggle contraband Doritos in the back of one of the SUVs. You're lucky though that we've got plenty of wine and beer. Bobby refused to sign off on some of the guy's annual physicals unless he was allowed to bring it. Good to see ya, Beautiful", he said turning to me and kissing the top of my head.

We turned and went into the kitchen; well I assumed I was heading to the kitchen. I was following my nose to one of the most amazing things I'd ever smelt. Ranger and Bobby were hard at work. Ranger was stirring a pot of stew and Bobby was tidying up.

"Hey Steph. Dinner's almost ready. Would you like a glass of wine?"

"That'd be great, thanks Bobby. What is in that?" I asked, grabbing a spoon to steal some stew from the pot. I snuck up next to a smiling Ranger and made to put my arms around him. As soon as his guard was down, I went for the pot.

He chuckled. "It's mostly vegetables, Babe, and lean beef, herbs and spices. It's actually really good for you since..."

"SHH!" I cut in. "You're ruining it!" I swallowed the mouthful and heard myself moan in pleasure. The four men in the kitchen suddenly looked rather uncomfortable. Lester turned his groan into a cough, Tank seemed to have moved to behind the counter, Bobby looked relieved that he was still wearing an apron and Ranger let out an exasperated "Babe!"

"Sorry, sorry. So who made this? I think they're my newest favourite cook after Ella."

Ranger replied first "Bobby did most of it. It's his grandmother's recipe."

A buff doctor who can cook? How on earth are you still single?

Bobby smiled looking embarrassed as he handed me a wine glass.

"Wait. Out loud?"

"Babe."

"Meh. I stand by it." The guys laughed.

"Anything you need me to do? Set the table?"

"All taken care of", Lester said. "Dinner should be ready soon, so I'll show you your room in the meantime."

"Hmm... do I want to willingly go into a bedroom, alone, with the infamous Lester Santos?..." I pretended to ponder, teasing him.

"What I have in mind would take a lot longer than the five minutes we have, Beautiful" Lester retorted, waggling his eyebrows at me.

I laughed and followed him up the stairs. He'd grabbed my bag on the way through the living room. I'd been in the house for fifteen minutes and already I felt lighter and happier. I realised that I missed this. When Ranger was away, I always knew the guys were watching my back, but we never got to hang out together like we did when I was working at Rangeman. I loved all of them and I knew they felt the same about me. Not an undying, can't live without out you love, but love still the same. With them I felt safety, and warmth and acceptance, and yeh, sometimes, desire I thought as I felt my eyes drift down to Lester's ass...

"Earth to Steph!"

"What, sorry?"

"This is your room, Beautiful. Deep thoughts, huh? Anything I should know about?"

"N-n-oo. Nothing. I'm just going to freshen up before dinner. Long drive. I'll be downstairs in a few..."

I closed the door and gave myself a pep talk. I had to pull myself together. Just because it seemed like I hadn't had sex since dinosaurs roamed the Earth, was no reason to start ogling Lester. Just because I doubted Lester would mind if he knew I was ogling him, doesn't mean that Ranger wouldn't be furious... Though what if Ranger wasn't furious? He'd seen how the A-team looked at me and it didn't seem to bother him in the way that it did if he saw other men checking me out... Stop Steph. You're just giving yourself hot flashes. I tore open my duffle bag, grabbed my hairbrush, tooth brush and some perfume and ducked into the ensuite. I finally took in my surroundings as I made myself more presentable. The bathroom was black and white marble, with a large spa tub dominating side of the vanity, and a shower big enough for two on the other side. I stopped to check out the shower. Multiple massage jets. Yep, if I could just keep it together for a few hours, I could make myself one happy camper. I exited and looked around the bedroom. A king sized wrought iron bed was in the centre of the room, covered in, were those Ella sheets? They were Ella sheets! Staying the night here was definitely a good idea. A walk in wardrobe, a chest of drawers and two bedside tables completed the room and I quickly hung up my clothes before heading downstairs.

Author's Note: This is my first fanfic, so please review if you think I should continue it. And apologies for any spelling or grammar mistakes, I don't have a beta.