Title: What could have happened…

Author: Rangersgal (Izi)

Disclaimer: I'm not making money, it's not mine and I don't own it

Rating: M (slight smut and language)

Summary: What could have happened after Ranger and Steph slept together, inspired by Collide by Howie Day (you know, the song from the OC, I think from when Marisa is dying)

Collide lyrics:

The dawn is breaking

A light shining through

You're barely waking

And I'm tangled up in you

Yeah

Even the best fall down sometimes

Even the stars refuse to shine

Out of the back you fall in time

I somehow find

You and I collide

I'm open, you're closed

Where I follow, you'll go

I worry I won't see your face

Light up again

I'm quiet you know

You make a first impression

I've found I'm scared to know

I'm always on your mind

Even the best fall down sometimes

Even the wrong words seem to ryhme

Out of the doubt that fills your mind

You finally find

You and I collide

You finally find

You and I collide

You finally find

You and I collide

(RANGERS POV)

I awoke to Stephanie's sigh as she burrowed deeper into the sheets. Her curls pooled on the pillow, spreading onto my hand, which I lifted to brush them off her face so that I could watch as her eyes fluttered open.

"Morning Babe"

"Morning," she voice was husky from sleep.

Emotions spread across her face, clear as the dawn braking through the window. Surprise, happiness, relief? But definitely surprise, did she honestly think that I would have left without saying goodbye? "Did you sleep well?"

She stretched, arching her back and pushing her lower body against mine. "Yes, I'm thinking that I never want to move again," she said this even as she say up, clutching the sheets to her body.

I had to smile at this, not the half way smile, but all 200 Watts just liked I knew Stephanie liked. "Yer, I'm thinking that staying here definitely could work for me today," she continued.

"You can stay there, but I have to go to work," she frowned, clearly not liking my plan for the rest of the day. "But I'll make it up to you, I'll take you out to dinner"

"Distraction?" God, did she really think that I didn't want her, especially after last night.

"No, dinner as in-"

"Date?" This came out as a squeak and I had to smile again, she was so scared of commitment. Then it was a good thing that she didn't know that I had committed myself to her along time ago.

"Yes, date, as in two people getting dressed up and going out-" I was cut off again.

"Ranger, I know what a date is, but you, and I quote, 'don't do relationships'" ahh, that was the real problem.

"No, my life doesn't lend itself to relationships, but then, neither does yours"

"It lends itself to relationships fine, thank you, look what I had with Morelli," then the penny dropped and she flopped down in on the bed.

"My point exactly, babe, so we match and I think that means that it will work out"

"So you 'do relationships' now," she made quote marks in the air as she said this.

"Yup, just for you," then I kissed her, no tongue, just lips. Her arms came around my neck, silently asking for more. Then I added tongue, running it gently along her lips, asking for entry. Just as I was about to sweep into her mouth, her tongue was in mine and she rolled on top of me, taking control.

Then my pager went off, "Shit"

Stephanie rested her forehead on mine, taking deep breaths. I threw my hand out to the bedside table, reaching for the pager resting on its top. It was Tanks number, followed by the emergency code. I swore again, "shit"

"You, know, usually once is enough," Stephanie said into my mouth and I couldn't help but kiss her again, dropping the pager to the floor and resting my hands on her hips with her still straddling me.

Then I moved my hands up to her breasts, filling my hands with them, running my thumbs over her already hard nipples, extracting a moan. Then the pager went off again, a different sequence of beeps. Without breaking the kiss I dragged Stephanie to the edge of the bed and reached down for the pager.

This time it was Lester's number followed by the emergency code. She was still kissing me and I was thinking that she had the right idea when the page went off in my hand again, showing Bobby's number and the emergency code, so I reckoned this was probably something I needed to be at.

"Babe, Steph, I have to go"

"No," then she kissed me some more, running her hands over my shoulders, down my chest and settling at my hips.

"Really, I have to go," I took her hands off me and she drew back, pouting. "Don't pout, babe, it's unbecoming"

"You better be picking me up for dinner to make up for it"

I managed to find my pants in the hallway, my shirt in the kitchen and my shoes in front of the TV. Stephanie followed me through the apartment, silently watching as I dressed. I turned to her and reached out my arms, drawing her into them, feeling content as she leaned into me. She felt so good being right there, and I thought that this would be the way to go; I could keep her here forever in my arms.

"I'll pick you up at seven, ok?" I felt her nod into my chest. "And you better be wearing something sexy"

"Go, you'll be late for work"

"Babe, I'm already late"

"Well you'll be really late"

I stole a fast, hard kiss, demanding that she give into it, drawing her even closer.

"Late, you'll be late"

"I can be lots of things for you Babe"

She unfisted her hands from my shirt, smoothing out the wrinkles. I smiled at this and kissed her again, tasting her one last time before disappearing out the door. I got into my car; I had the Turbo this morning, and looked up to her window. She was looking down at me and I saw her mouth a good bye: "Late" and she smiled.

(STEPHS POV)

I watched Ranger speed out of the lot, wishing really hard that nothing would happen today to ruin out date tonight.

My phone rang and I grabbed it from the wall, "Hello"

"Stephaniiiieeee"

"Um, who is this?"

"Stephaniiiieeee"

"What do you want?" I was quickly starting to hyperventilate

"I want you, Stephaniiiieeee." Oh god, I had another stalker, I really, really didn't need one of those right now, not when everything was starting to come so good.

Then a noise came from my fire escape, a thumping noise.

"Hello?"

THUMP…THUMP…THUMP…

"Is anyone there?"

CRASH!

I grabbed my mobile and hit speed dial 1.

"Yo"

"Come back"

"Babe?"

"Come back, there's someone in my bedroom"

"Babe, Steph, don't hang up, I'll be there in a sec"

There was another crash and then the sound of something heavy being dragged

"Oh my god, oh my god, Ranger, I really do not need this right now"

"I know babe, I know, hang on I'm almost there"

"Ranger…"

"Babe, just breathe"

Then a figure appeared in my bedroom door and all of a sudden time seemed to slow down.

Just as the figure appeared I head my locks begin to tumble and the door was pushed open, in stepped Ranger, gun drawn, bad ass look on his face. Then the figure moved into the lounge and I realised what had happened, I was caught between two drawn guns, literally caught in cross fire.

The shots seemed to be fired in slow motion, first catching Ranger in the upper body and then my chest was on fire, my world dissolving into agony.

Even the best fall down sometimes

Even the wrong words seem to rhyme

Out of the doubt that fills my mind

I somehow find

You and I collide

(STEPHS POV)

I heard a soft beeping and I consistent whirring and figured that I was alive. I tried sitting up but only got as far as raising my neck before OWW! OH MY GOD, that HURT!

"Steph, baby, lay down"

"Water?"

"Right here"

A straw bumped against my lips and I sucked, rewarded with a trickle of water coming into my mouth.

"Not too much, Steph"

"Daddy? Where's Ranger? Ranger! Oh my god, is he ok?"

"He's fine, but your not"

"Huh?"

Then the nurse came in and proceeded to inform me of my injuries.

"You where shot twice in the chest, both of those punctured your right lung, causing it to collapse, though it was reinflated during the surgery. You had a massive amount of blood loss so the doctor put you into a medically induced coma so that your body could heal. That was three weeks ago, you were given drugs to wake you roughly 36 hours ago but your body is not fully recovered."

"Three weeks? I was out for three WEEKS?"

"Baby, listen to the nurse"

I settled down and waited for her to finish, "You were shot in your lower and upper chest cavity, the lower shot was less complicated and is almost healed, however the upper wound is still open and infected, it should clear up within the next few days. You are now aware of your surrounds and we can start you on more aggressive drugs."

Then she checked and rebandaged my wound, apparently satisfied, she left.

"Steph, Ranger's here, you want to see him"

"Yer, Daddy, let him in"

When Ranger walked in I expected to see him all bad-ass bounty hunter, fresh eyed and rip roaring ready to go. Instead I was face to face with a haggard, sleep deprived man who I barely knew.

"Hey"

"Hey Babe"

"How you feeling?"

"Aren't I s'posed to be asking you that?"

"They didn't say how bad you looked"

Ranger half smiled half grimaced, "I was so worried"

"About me?" Nod from Ranger.

"I should have been there. I should have kept you safe"

He had his hands in his head, having lowered himself to sit in the chair beside her bed

"But you did-"

"You got shot, that's not keeping you safe"

"But you were there, you stopped me from getting killed! You protected me"

"Look at yourself, Steph. Do you look like you've been protected, like you've been kept safe?"

"If I wanted safe I would be with Joe. I knew that your lifestyle wound be Fairy Land, I knew that it wouldn't be all happy-go-lucky. But I chose that life anyway. I chose to be with you and be in danger then to be safe and not have you"

I so wanted him to smile again, to make me feel wanted, safe, protected. I missed his smile and he was so withdrawn, I hated to see him like this. It made me feel like I would never see him happy again.

(RANGERS POV)

"If I wanted safe I would be with Joe. I knew that your lifestyle wound be Fairy Land, I knew that it wouldn't be all happy-go-lucky. But I choose that life anyway. I choose to be with you and be in danger then to be safe and not have you"

"Really?"

She smiled at me, "Really really"

I looked into her eyes, scared find out what they would reveal. I didn't want this to be a lie, just another rouse by a woman who wanted to get me into bed. I wanted this to be real, to have meaning behind it.

I wasn't disappointed.

"Babe, I don't think this is what you want, what you need." It was breaking my heart to say it, but I couldn't be with her. "I'm not what would be best for you"

I gave her a light kiss over her hair and left, scared that I would say something even more stupid. The hurt was evident in her eyes and the emotions expressed on her face and it broke my heart in half.

(3 WEEKS LATER, STILL RANGERS POV)

I check the monitors, gym, gun ranger, conference room, all in use by the right people at the right time. No outstanding FTAs, no major problems from the last shift.

Situation: NORMAL

Except that it wasn't, Steph wasn't in her cubby, she didn't appear on any of the monitors and her car wasn't in the garage. I seated myself behind my desk in my office and called Tank.

"Tank, my office 5 minutes"

I have learnt that when you are going to assert power, it is best to do it while you are in a position of authority, hence the office meeting.

"Carlos"

"Tank, Stephanie hasn't arrived"

"No boss, she left at 6.30pm last evening, tracer on her car showed her arriving home at 6.47pm and hasn't moved since"

"Right"

"Carlos, what the fuck did you say to her?"

"Nothing"

"Noting my ass, nothing is not what makes a girl sulk and cry for three weeks"

I was silent.

"Let me guess…you gave her some bullshit about noting being able to keep her safe"

"Tank"

"Carlos"

I grabbed my keys and mobile phone from my desk. "I'm skip tracing if you need me"

"The mighty Carlos Manoso, running from a woman, who ever would have thought?"

I brushed passed him and took the stairs to the garage and jumped into the Turbo. Flicking on the GPS I ran a search for location of the Buick. It pinged and I looked over, the signal was still coming from her parking lot. That done I drove to the Bonds Office and picked up three new skips from Connie.

"Connie, you seen Steph in lately?"

"No since Monday." Today was Wednesday, this was not good.

"Lula?"

"Why? From the way she been tellin it you loved her, got her shot and left her"

Her words stunned me, was that really the way she had been telling it?

"Well, in that case I think it best if I leave"

"Fuckin A"

Back in the can I looked over the files for the skips and checked Stephs location again, still at home. I decided to pay a little visit, and try to sort this fucking mess out.

I picked the lock and let myself in, wondering how the hell I was going to get myself out of this.

"Steph? Babe?"

"What do you want Ranger?"

She was cleaning, I had never seen her place so clean; and I've been breaking in for almost a year.

"Wanted to talk"

"About?"

"Us"

"You made it very clear that there is no 'us', therefore we have nothing to talk about"

"When I said I didn't, couldn't have a relationship with you, I didn't mean I don't want you"

"Let me get this straight, you want to be able to break in, have your way with me, and then what? LEAVE?"

I could only stare at her, I had nothing to say.

"Why do you always hurt me?"

"Babe, I don't mean to…"

"But you do! You kiss me and touch me, you spend a freaking night with me, then you turn around as soon as you can and say you don't want me! Am I supposed to just rebound from something like that?"

God, she's so sexy when she's angry. "Well, it's not like you ever ask for more"

"God Ranger, how can you be so stupid?" She dropped to the couch, her head in her hands. "It's all I ever think about, when I'm gonna get me next kiss, when you'll smile at me again, when you'll touch me"

This last bit was said so softly I almost missed it. But I didn't, I heard it, and I scared me shitless

(STEPHS POV)

"God Ranger, how can you be so stupid? It's all I ever think about, when I'm gonna get me next kiss, when you'll smile at me again, when you'll touch me"

God, how embarrassing, he doesn't want me and hear I am telling him I'm addicted to him, that I can't get enough.

"Steph," I looked up, "I didn't want a relationship with you because…"

"Because why?" I was scared to find out the rest of the sentence.

"Because I love you." My breath caught and I looked at him, desperate to see that this was the truth.

"If you loved me you would want a relationship"

"Not one that places you in danger. I wont be an absentee boyfriend or husband, Steph"

Husband? Oh my God… he was serious.

"I told you, if I want safe, Joe lives five minutes away. But I don't want that, I want you…I choose you over him, because I love you"

We were still looking at each other, but suddenly he moved and he was kissing me.

I poured all my love into that kiss, trying to tell him in a single gesture that I love you, that I wasn't ever going to let him go, that I want to be with him.

He pulled back slightly and I gasped, wanting him back. Ranger chuckled, but he brought his lips back to mine and I was satisfied again.