Disclaimer – All characters belong to the lucky JE and I am not making any money from them.

Stephanie is offered her greatest dream on a silver platter. When she realizes what that entails, will she be able to keep it? Will she want to?

When Dreams Meets Reality

Exhausted, I leaned against the elevator wall as it slowly made its way to the 7th floor. I was past caring about what slime and debris I was tracking into Rangers building. My head was starting to spin from the smell coming off me, circling around in the enclosed space. Closing my eyes, I tried to relax and slow my breathing.

Almost there.

Soon I would be clean and safe and wrapped in the smell of Bvlgari.

Today was one of the worst days I've had in a long time and it was only three o'clock. I was woken up at four AM to my apartment and the building fire alarm blasting.

A dense fog was making its way from my living room into the open bedroom door. As quick as I could I threw some jeans on and slipped into a pair of shoes as fire trucks made their way down the street. I opened the window next to my bed and was about to climb out when I realized my purse was in the living room. I hesitated for a moment before pushing the thought aside. Ranger had duplicates of all my things. Everything could be replaced . . . I just hoped everyone would get out ok.

Then it hit me like a slap in the face, my heart stopped for a moment, then pounded so hard I thought it was going to break out of my chest.

Rex!

By then the firemen and EMT's were here. They helped all my neighbors who had gotten out, wrapping them in blankets. Some firefighters came into the building as others prepared the ladder so the hose would reach my floor. They were yelling at me to come down but I couldn't.

A familiar voice called to me but I ignored it.

Disappearing from their view, I turned from the window and ran for the living room. The place was blazing. A thick smell of gasoline greeted me as I lifted the top of my shirt to cover my mouth and nose. The couch and chairs by the windows were the worst. Some flames flicked down from the ceiling. My small rug was gone, nothing but a pile of embers. I scoped out the whole room before moving in, picking my way carefully through the mess. I jumped startled when shelves on the back wall collapsed. It was so hot and hard to breath. I tried to take small breathes but I knew with every intake of air, I was breathing in a lot of smoke.

When I finally got to the kitchen I almost cried. The fire was just starting to spread there, on the opposite side of where Rex was. I picked his cage up carefully. He was hiding inside his little soup can.

"You're safe now," I tried to say, but my throat was clogging with the smoke.

I gripped the cage tight and made my way to my apartment door. I didn't want to risk going through the whole living room again if I didn't have to. I opened the door a crack and looked out. The halls seemed ok. I had just made it down one flight of stairs when a firefighter saw me. He rushed me out into the open air in the parking lot. Paramedics came over. I didn't want to give up Rex's cage but they took him from me when I started coughing.

Rex was placed beside me in the ambulance as I was checked over and had an oxygen mask placed over my mouth. I greedily sucked as much in my lungs as I could in one breath. I looked down at myself and realized I was covered in soot. I didn't even want to think about what my hair would look like.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Morelli running over to me. His face was red. "What the hell were you thinking, Stephanie? You should have come down the fucking fire escape when you were there! That's why it's called a fire escape! So you can escape!"

He was the voice that called to me.

"Needed . . . to get. . . Rex," I managed to say through the mask.

The vein in his neck was pulsing, threatening to burst. "You risked your life for a hamster?" he yelled. "What the hell Stephanie! You could have died! Died!"

One of the EMT's was getting pissed as she took my blood pressure. She was Caucasian, around my age with auburn hair and nice pale green eyes. After the last statement, she turned to Morelli and said, "She doesn't need this right now. Stop making things worse. Her blood pressure is skyrocketing now so shut the hell up or leave."

Joe opened his mouth to fight back but Big Dog and Carl came over. "Hey man, go take a walk ok? She's fine. You need to calm down."

His fists clenched as he stormed off.

I pulled the mask down. "Thanks," I said to the three of them.

The EMT quickly pulled it back over my mouth before nodding. "You're BP isn't that bad just keep the mask on for a bit more though. You inhaled a lot of smoke."

A shiver worked its way down my spine. My eyes found Rangers. He was working his way through all the cars and people. The EMT noticed where I was looking. "I should go check on some of the others," she mumbled and turned away blushing.

Big Dog and Carl made some noises and left when Ranger finally reached me.

He looked me over. "You ok?" His voice was low.

Here was Batman himself looking pristine and sexy probably after rushing out of bed in 2.1 seconds, he had black sweats and a shirt on so I knew he wasn't working, while I looked like Don King. Life just wasn't fair sometimes.

I nodded and lifted the mask off. "Just peachy," I said, "but I don't think I'll want barbeque anytime soon."

His lips twitched. "What happened?"

"I don't know," I said honestly. "I woke up to my living room on fire so I got the hell out."

Ranger's eyes flickered towards Rex's cage but didn't comment. Smart man. "You know who could have done this?"

I had to think about that for a minute. "Clayton wasn't very happy when I finally brought him in a couple days ago. He was making noise about making me regret it." Clayton had robbed a jewelry store and shot a guard in the process. It took three days, several pairs of handcuffs, and a taser to his balls to finally get him. "I don't know if he was bonded out again though."

He nodded. Of course he would find out. Probably before the police too.

"Can I stay at your place for a while?" I asked. Who knew how long my place was going to take to get back in order.

"What about Morelli?" He countered.

"Fuck Morelli." I just made a decision that neither of them knew about. They would soon though. Very soon.

"He's not really my type Babe" he said with a straight face.

I smiled wide. Ranger humor. "Nice to know. What is your type anyways?"

His eyes darkened. "I could show you."

Oh boy.

I looked down at myself. "You'll have to hose me down first."

"I can manage that."

Yes you can, I thought with a grin.

"Have you talked to the cops yet?"

I shook my head. "Not yet."

He turned and walked towards Eddie who was talking to Mrs. Harris. They exchanged a few words and Eddie nodded. When Ranger turned to leave Eddie reached out and grabbed his arm. Uh oh. Both eyes flickered towards me as Eddie said something then let Ranger go when he inclined his head. That was as good of a nod as Eddie was going to get.

When Ranger came back to me he picked of Rex's cage. "You can give your statement in the morning. Let's go."

I hosed myself down when we got to Rangeman before wrapping myself in Rangers bazillion thread count sheets. Rex was sleeping in his usual spot on the kitchen counter. Poor little guy had a long night. I felt Ranger kiss my forehead lightly before leaving to save the world. I passed out before the door clicked shut behind him.

I woke to the apartment phone ringing at nine.

"Lo?" I managed, eyes still closed.

"Babe."

"Wudyouwannt?" My words came out garbled, laced with sleep.

His voice was low and husky. "Your body. Right. Now."

I thought that was a great place to end the chapter haha All reviews are welcome! Whether you liked it or not you know what button to hit! Thanks for reading.

Tune in next week to find out what happens next on Days of Our. . . Oops I mean When Dreams Meet Reality.