Lester looked up from his desk when he heard the thunk of something being thrown against the office door. Ranger was back from the bar where a distraction job with Stephanie from tonight went south, quickly. Steph was supposed to lure the skip outside the bar, but he recognized her from her latest newspaper photo and with an arm around her neck, tried to drag her out the back door. Luckily, they had the back door covered and were able to contain the situation.
However, Steph had a few marks on her from the skip and when Ranger saw the marks, he flipped out and started screaming at her. She reached up, slapped him across the cheek and looked up at him, with tears in her eyes, and very quietly said, "I thought you cared about me and didn't think you would act like Morelli. You are being just like him."
She then looked at Lester and asked him to give her a ride back to RangeMan to pick up her car. "Sure beautiful, let me get Bobby since he has the keys. He'll probably want to look you over to make sure you're okay." Ranger looked at him, but said nothing. He was still standing in the same spot as before, holding a hand to his cheek, just looking at Steph. She looked at him and sadly shook her head and walked towards the car. When the car pulled away, a glance in the rear view mirror showed that Ranger hadn't moved.
Stephanie didn't say anything on the drive back and when they pulled into the garage, Bobby led her upstairs to check her over. Once he was satisfied she was okay, he pulled a sucker out of his desk drawer and gave it to her. "You'll be okay Steph. Why don't you go home and get some rest? I'll see you when you come to work tomorrow, okay? Let me know if you have any problems, okay?" Steph didn't say anything, just set the sucker down on the exam table and walked out and headed to the elevator.
As soon as the elevator door shut, Bobby was on the phone to Lester and had him intercept her in the garage. Lester caught up with her before she got into her car, gently took the keys out of her hand and guided her into the passenger seat. He buckled her in and drove her to her apartment. Walking her upstairs with an arm around her waist, she leaned into him and the tears starting silently coming down her face.
Lester got her inside and took her into her room, got her changed into pajamas and put her to bed. He sat in the chair besides her bed and she looked at him. "Get that chair out of here, please."
"Sure beautiful. I'll be right back." Les pulled the chair out into the hallway and returned. Steph was still just lying there with the tears still flowing. Lester kicked off his shoes, went to the other side of the bed, dropping his gun and phone on the bedside table, and got into bed beside Steph. He pulled her into his arms and she started to sob.
Les stayed quiet and just held her, stroking her hair while she cried it out. Eventually, her sobs settled down and he realized she had fallen asleep. He kept a hold of her for a bit and relaxed into her bed. Once he felt her shift into her pillows, he pulled his arm from under her and reached for his phone. He sent Bobby a text and told him he was going to stay with Steph and would see him in the morning. Bobby sent back a text that told him Tank had to get Ranger to stop throwing things in office and he held him down while Bobby gave him a shot to calm him down. Tank was taking him upstairs to get his hand x-rayed. They think he punched the wall and broke his hand.
He put his phone down and turned back to check on Steph. She rolled over and wrapped about half of her body across his. He brushed her hair away from her face and gave her a gentle kiss before closing his eyes and falling asleep.