A/N: here's a very short one-shot for y'all. It started out a songfic based off Eric Church's Like A Wrecking Ball but I ended up just not taking it there. So look forward to that at some point. The reason I did this as a one-shot - the only reason I really wrote it at all - was to give y'all a little update on what is going on over here. First, I have successfully moved, I've been here a month. My brother came for a two week long visit shortly after and that was a mess. Second, I got a puppy. His name is Diesel, he's a mastiff Saint Bernard mix and he's the sweetest dumbest thing. Training him has been... well, let's just say he understands sit, and that's about it. It's very interesting to see him with my twins. Third, my oldest started preschool. He's been there a week. It's not going well. While eager to learn, he's already been flagged for ADHD/aggressive types of behaviors. I have done my best up to and including taking him to several different doctors who refused to evaluate him based on age - the prerequisite for the evaluation is he needs to be in preschool and referred by the school. So that will likely happen soon! Hallelujah. Fourth, I am going back to school myself! Bachelors in English is the goal right now, although I may switch both that and the school I'm attending so I get a Bachelors in Interdisciplanary Sciences - elementary education for those of us who had no idea what that meant! So the point of all of this is: I will be updating my other fics soon. This is pretty much the first thing I've written in months, with the exception of texts, emails, one or two blog posts and a page of edits on my original work. I also started another fanfic that I won't publish until it's complete so y'all don't hate me.
Happy Fall everyone!
Disclaimer: characters are not mine
Ranger POV
It'd been awhile since I'd been home. It was supposed to be two weeks but turned out to be more like six. Meeting after meeting after meeting at my offices in Boston and Miami meant that I'd been gone too long from Trenton. Therefore it'd been awhile since I'd seen Stephanie. It took me a few minutes to get the door open, but finally, there I was.
Home.
We'd barely moved into our new home when I'd been called away. She'd offered to go with me but I knew she didn't want to leave Lula or Vinnie in the lurch. Mostly Lula, but good old Catholic guilt kept her also considering Vinnie's feelings on the matter. The house felt homey now and I knew it was because of Stephanie. The woman who held my heart.
The woman I loved.
I went searching for this beautiful woman while mentally categorizing the changes she'd made in my absence. Curtains and some throw pillows, a new carpet, and a few dishes drying on a cloth on the counter. A wine glass and plate. She'd probably had pizza or a sub, since I didn't see a fork anywhere. She'd left a light on for me in the hallway, and the light over the stove in the kitchen. She hadn't done much to the rest of the house, just the living room and kitchen.
I found her in the bedroom, asleep on her side, body curved around my pillow. She was wearing a blue little slip of nothing, that I knew she'd put on just because she knew I was coming home. It was mostly lace, and it looked great on her.
It'd look better on our bedroom floor.
She'd been teasing me while I was gone, sending me photos I knew that a year ago she would never consider sending. Nothing too risqué but just enough that I could get the gist of it. Of what she wanted. Nothing that showed her face or any identifying marks either. I'd drilled that into her hard. Security reasons.
I'd drilled other things into her hard, too.
Now though, I moved to the foot of the bed, and stripping down quickly I crawled into bed with her. I wrapped one arm around her waist, and used the other to scoop her further into the curve of my body just so I could touch her breast. She let out a little exhale and I released the tension I hadn't known I'd been carrying around with me.
Home.
This woman was my home. I gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead and whispered, "Love you, Babe."
She huskily murmured back, "Love you, too Carlos."