Plot: Halloween one shot, but it's a bit late – sorry! Ranger returns after missing Halloween and surprises Stephanie. Babe HEA. Just sweet fluff. Got carried away with the banner...

Warnings: Bad Language and it's probably so sweet your teeth will ache. Rated 15+ for all the language.

Babe, Trick or Treat?
By Sasha

Ranger had been in the wind for a little over six months. Six months was way too long not to see him, touch him, kiss him. I'd missed his birthday, he'd missed mine, and he'd also missed Halloween. Halloween. My favourite holiday of the year – usually.

I'd been so miserable with missing him that I hadn't even celebrated Halloween this year. I'd just parked my car in a lot three blocks away, locked up my apartment, turned off all the lights and made absolutely zero noise. Not one trick-or-treater had darkened my doorstep. It also helped that there were rarely any children in my building, unless they were visiting their grandparents. But still, I hadn't wanted to take any chances. I just didn't want to celebrate anything when Ranger was stuck in some God forsaken jungle engaged in guerrilla warfare. Okay, so I had no idea where he was or what he was doing. It just sucked that he wasn't a phone call or ten minute drive away.

It was eight pm. I'd just finished a Pino's sub after a rarely successful day of bounty hunting. I'd managed to capture three medium range skips without getting hurt, covered in an unidentifiable substance, or embarrassed. I was hunting in my freezer for a roll of cookie dough I knew I'd hidden there when there was a knock on my door. I froze and swivelled my head to stare at it. Most people who visited me didn't knock. I debated whether to pretend I wasn't home, or answer the door. Whoever they were had probably already seen my car down in the lot. Damn it.

"Who is it?" I asked begrudgingly, sticking my head back in the freezer. Who would have known I'd have so much junk in there that it would make it difficult to find one roll of cookie dough?

"Trick or treat," the deep male voice answered.

I rolled my eyes. Great. All the hard work I'd gone to last week and some asshole decided they could trick-or-treat after Halloween? This may also be a good time to mention I'd had two beers and was halfway through my third.

"Halloween was last week, buddy. Scram!" Damn where was that stupid cookie dough? I didn't eat it, did I?

"Babe. Trick or treat?"

My eyes widened and my mouth fell open. Ranger! "Ranger?! It's open." I kept my head buried in the freezer; I just told Ranger Mañoso to scram.

"Babe." His tone told me exactly what he thought about me keeping the door unlocked.

"Leaving the door unlocked seems to discourage people from breaking in. It's like reverse psychology or something; they don't want to break in if there's no challenge," I babbled nervously.

"Babe."

I sighed. It was time to come out of the freezer. I just wished I'd found the darn cookie dough.

"I know, I know. Lock that shit up. Whatever. When has that ever worked for me in the past? And look, leaving my door unlocked made you knock. You rarely knock. Oh my God!" I turned around and was rooted to the spot as my eyes traced over Ranger. He was dressed head to toe in a very elaborate, form fitting, sexy, Batman outfit. Holy hot flash Batman!

"Happy Halloween, Babe."

I stared at him dumbfounded for a few beats. "You – but. Why? You don't do costumes."

"I don't do a lot of things."

"Yeah, uh, I remember. Damn you make that costume look so good it's ridiculous. And God, it is so good to see you. I missed you, I'm glad you made it home safe."

"Doesn't seem like it."

"Wh-what?"

"Doesn't seem like you missed me."

"Of course I missed you," I missed you like crazy, "Trenton's not the same without you." I'm not the same without you.

"Babe, I knocked on your door and you didn't throw it open and jump into my arms. Then when I come in, I don't even get a kiss."

"Uh?" Seriously, was Ranger pouting? I had no idea how to respond to that. "Sorry?"

"Babe, trick or treat?" he repeated suddenly, his eyes serious through his Batman mask. Did I forget to mention there was a mask? Oh yeah, and a cape. Yum.

"Treat," I replied hesitantly.

In a heartbeat he'd rounded the kitchen table and had me pressed up against the fridge, his body moulded to every inch of mine. My pulse thrummed in my neck, my heart hammered in my chest and my breathing grew weak and laboured. Our eyes were locked until his eyes slid passed me and paused. A frown flashed over the features of his face I could see and he eased back. He lifted one of my hands and placed a Hershey's kiss inside and in the next instant he was gone, his cape whipping behind him dramatically.

What the hell had just happened? I stood rooted to my spot as the locks tumbled from the outside. I was sure that Ranger had been just about to kiss the daylights out of me, maybe even more. What had he seen that had made him back off so quickly? Slowly I turned and stared at the kitchen bench to my left and felt my heart sink. There was a yellow post-it-note with Joe's messy scrawl on it, 'Call me, Cupcake. We'll work something out.' Fuck. Fuckity fuck fuck. I was going to kill Joe. I was running out of my apartment and down the stairs faster than I'd ever moved before. I slammed out of the apartment building just in time to see the taillights of Ranger's Porsche pulling into the street.

"Fuck!" I smacked my fist against the brick wall of the building, hard. Something went crunch and I screamed and swore again, loudly.

I stumbled back up to my apartment building, my hand already starting to swell and turn interesting colours. That was not a good sign. I grabbed my purse and cell phone, locked my apartment and trundled back down to the parking lot. I knew when going to the hospital was a necessity. This was one of those times. After filling out my paper work and getting an x-ray, I sat back in the waiting room and dialled Joe's number.

"Morelli."

"You're an asshole, you know that?"

There was a long pause. "You're going to have to be a little more specific."

"It's me, Joe. That note you left on my counter – not cute. Did you know he'd be back in town today?" I demanded angrily.

He sighed. "Heard a rumour."

"And what, you just thought to yourself, let's ruin Steph's life a little more? You know how I feel about him!" I growled, glaring a hole through the linoleum flooring. Joe was just being an asshole. He was happily dating a nice dentist and had been doing so for months. They were a lot happier together than Joe and I had ever been on our best day, but I guess if he couldn't have me, then no-one else could either. Men!

"Cupcake." I cut him off immediately.

"Joseph Anthony Morelli! I thought we could try being friends but it's obvious we can't. Don't call me, don't drop by and stop calling me CUPCAKE! We're over and we've been over for NEARLY A YEAR and we sure as hell are staying OVER!" I shouted into the phone before disconnecting. I dropped it back into my purse and glanced up. Everyone in the waiting room, patients, doctors, nurses, concerned family and friends were all staring at me.

"This is a hospital, miss. Best you don't be hollering," an elderly lady who sat next to me patted my hand gently.

I slunk down in my seat, mortified. Slowly but surely everyone got back to whatever it was they were doing before my lunatic outburst.

"Bombshell."

I jumped about three feet in the air and clutched my chest.

"Jesus, Tank! How long have you been there?" I gasped, staring at him. He was seated on my right, reading an issue of 'Survivalist'. It looked like he'd been there for a while, judging by how far through the magazine he'd gotten. Tank had been taking care of me while Ranger had been gone. This wasn't our first trip to the emergency room together.

"Long enough. Ranger's still out of town. You popped up on my alert screen when they entered in your details. Came to see if you're okay," Tank said, tossing the magazine onto the table and pinning me with his dark eyes.

"I'm okay," I answered, giving a shrug.

"That so? Why you in a hospital then?" I glared at him; it was pretty obvious why I was in the fucking hospital.

"Stupidity. I tried to punch a brick wall," I muttered, holding up my completely swollen hand that was an interesting shade of purple.

His eyes widened. "Ouch."

"Yep." I smiled a little, knowing I'd somehow impressed him. Ranger's men had a different definition of fun than most. Punching a brick wall probably equated to number eight on the bad ass list of fun activities to make you look more like a bad ass. It would be just above knocking a guy out with the butt of your gun, but below making someone piss their pants with a single look.

"They give you something?" he asked, carefully picking up my arm and probing my hand. I flinched and hissed as he prodded.

"Tylenol," I gulped.

"Fuckers." He set my hand back down on the pillow I had on my lap and settled in next to me.

"I've been here an hour, it's a quiet night. I've had my x-rays so I'm sure they'll get to me soon." I heard my phone start vibrating in my purse and glanced down at the caller. It was my mother. No thank you. No doubt someone in the waiting room had phoned her and told her all about my little outburst and my busted hand. Great. I switched my phone off and slumped in my seat.

"Plum?" a young male nurse called.

I heaved myself up and felt Tank stand as well. "Thanks for coming and checking on me, Big Guy. You don't need to stay; you can head home now," I said with a frail smile. I just wanted the doctor to knock me out with some Morphine so I could deal with all this tomorrow. Or maybe never. I didn't want to think about Ranger leaving me; didn't want to think about what it meant for our friendship, or our future, or how hard having a broken hand would make catching skips for the next few weeks.

Tank just shook his head, placed a hand on my lower back and propelled me forward after the nurse.

"Look, Ranger is back in town, so you're not shirking on your duties. Why do you think I tried to put my fist through a wall?" I finished with a mutter.

Tank chuckled and pulled out his phone but stuck by my side as the nurse led us to a curtained off bed.

"The doctor shouldn't be too long," the nurse said, closing Tank and me inside.

Tank glanced down at the rickety visitor chair and thought better of it, taking a seat next to me on the bed instead. I leant against him, dropping my head onto his shoulder and sighing. His body tensed up for a moment before he wrapped his arm around me and pulled me closer into his body. Tank was such a big teddy bear. Tank's phone vibrated and he answered with a quiet, "Yo."

"Not supposed to have your phone on back here," I mumbled, stifling a yawn.

Tank's chest rumbled under my ear as he spoke. "Yeah. Yep. No. What bay are we in, Steph?"

"Huh? I don't know, Tank. Weren't you paying attention to your surroundings?" I wondered sleepily. If only my hand didn't hurt so badly, I could have fallen asleep.

"Hooah." Tank disconnected and fell silent. "Smartass," he finally muttered.

I grinned against his shirt. Twenty minutes later the curtain around my bed was pulled open. I looked up expecting to see the doctor but found someone else instead. Someone who was still wearing a Batman costume.

"They let you back here wearing that?" I asked nervously.

"Babe."

Tank eased out from under me and sat me up straight. "Later, Bombshell." He gave me a nod.

"Thanks for staying with me, Tank."

He gave another nod and a small smile. He did some complicated handshake with Ranger and they spoke so quietly I couldn't hear what they were saying. Then Tank was gone.

Ranger pulled the curtain shut once again and pulled the mask off of his face. His hair was a little mussed, and my fingers longed to run through his currently shoulder length hair. The cape was next. He peeled a few Batman insignia stickers off of his belt, boots and chest and suddenly he was back to normal Ranger. Painted on black shirt, black cargoes that moulded to his powerful thighs, black utility belt, and black shit kickers.

"You could have done that in the car before you came in," I said, tracing my eyes over his beautiful body.

"You embarrassed by me, Babe?"

I spluttered unattractively before finally managing to get a word out, "Never!"

His dark eyes traced over me. "Good."

An older female nurse popped her head inside our curtained room and frowned at us. "You can't be in here, sir. Only family members are allowed to wait," she said snippily, pressing her lips together in a stern line.

Ranger took a large step towards me and was suddenly in my personal space. "She's my wife and I've just got back from a six month tour. I'm not leaving her side," he said with his eyes boring intensely into mine. I couldn't blink, couldn't breathe, couldn't move. Wife. She's my wife. I shouldn't like how good it felt to hear those words come out of his lips.

Without taking his gaze off of me, he reached inside his shirt and pulled out a chain that was around his neck. On the end of the chain were three rings. Two were brushed white gold on the outside, rose gold on the inside. One was thick, the other thin. His and Hers. The third ring was also a white gold with rose gold interior but it had delicate filigree and a sapphire and two diamonds on top. My heart literally stopped beating.

"Hmmm. The doctor will be in shortly," cranky nurse lady ripped the curtain shut again and stomped off.

I didn't want to think too hard about why Ranger was carrying rings around his neck for. Didn't want to read into it further than I was supposed to. So I just continued to meet his gaze. Waiting.

"Trick or treat, Stephanie?" Ranger wondered again.

I considered it more carefully than last time. The Hershey's kiss had tided me through in the waiting room, but I had a feeling he was offering something more than a simple chocolate. I was praying he was anyway. And I suddenly wanted it, badly. More than anything. I loved him and I trusted him. I wanted whatever he wanted to give me.

"Treat," I whispered.

His eyes flashed and then darkened. "Hoped you'd say that." He bent down, capturing my lips in a slow, breathtakingly tender kiss as he poured his love for me into it. I returned the favour just as fervently, wrapping my good arm around his waist and holding him to me as tightly as possible. He pulled away, drawing a whimper out of me. "Marry me, Babe?" he asked, even though he didn't need to. He already knew the answer.

I gave a jerky nod and felt the ring slide down my finger into place. A tear slid down my cheek. "Best Halloween ever," I said softly.

"Best day, ever," he returned.

I gave him a trembling smile and tilted my face upwards. He kissed me again, soothing me, loving me. We stayed locked together in our embrace even after the doctor came in. She had to clear her throat a few times to get our attention.

I couldn't wait to get home and enjoy another kind of treat Ranger was offering.

The end.