Disclaimer: Characters aren't mine.

Hungover

Sitting down on the couch in the bonds office, I pulled out a large fry to hand to Lula before I started shoveling my own fries in my mouth. There was absolute silence in the office as we all tried to pull ourselves out of our hangovers.

"I woke up on my bathroom floor this morning," I finally said after doling out Tylenol to the girls fifteen minutes later. "The last thing I remember was dancing at The Inferno."

"I remember going to Salsa after The Inferno," Connie whispered as she laid her head back down on her desk.

"We made it to After Dark after Salsa," Lula said as she leaned back on the couch and closed her eyes. "Thank God the wedding isn't till tomorrow, otherwise we'd all look like hell for the pictures."

"Remind me again why Mary Lou is renewing her vows," Connie said with her face still smashed to the desk.

"Fifteenth wedding anniversary," I said as I rolled off the couch to the floor and curled into the fetal position. "It was actually Lenny's idea."

Lula said, "Wow."

That pretty much summed it up for all of us. It had totally floored me when Mary Lou had called me and told me that Lenny had suggested it. An all out wedding all over again to renew their vows. My only question had been do we get to do a Hen party. It turned out that Lenny had thought that had been a great idea, so me and Lula had planned it all.

We had started off at Paulo's, a new upscale Mexican restaurant. From there, we were suppose to go to The Inferno, then Salsa, then After Dark. Ranger had been nice and supplied us with a limo for the night so that we wouldn't have to worry about having someone sober to drive us around. Nick, the limo driver, had been prepared and got everyone's name and took a picture of us as we got in the limo so that he could keep track of us better at the clubs. It had occurred to me that Nick might be one of the RangeMan that had transferred up from Miami recently, but I was all for an undercover Merry Man for a night.

"Who did you go home with last night, Steph?" Lula asked, her face scrunched together like she was wearing her brain out trying to think about it.

I just frowned. "I didn't go home with anyone last night."

"I remember that part," Connie whispered. "But I can't remember anything about him."

"I woke up alone," I said with a shrug. "Must not have gone as far as you guys thought. And what's up with you guys letting me take a stranger home?"

"Nick knew him," Lula said.

"And Nick is our new best friend?" I gave Lula an incredulous look. "I'm never getting drunk with you people again. I need to call my gyno and set up an appointment to make sure I didn't get anything. Thanks for looking out for me."

The front door opened and all three of us grabbed our heads as the new bells that Connie put up started chiming. There was a soft collective groan from the three of us when the last bell vibration finally faded. If it would have been a gun toting serial killer, all three of us would have been dead by now.

"I went out to get you your cure and you weren't on the bathroom floor when I got back."

My head did that slow moving turn like you see in horror movies when I recognized the hesitant voice that came from the door.

"Oh, shit," Lula said. "Oh, hell no! You totally didn't go home with him last night!"

Lula's raised voice caused me to wince as little men with jackhammers started going off I my head again.

His eyes narrowed as he looked over at Lula. "And what's wrong with Steph going home with me last night?"

"You work for Ranger!" Lula accused. "You know Batman has the hots for our girl!"

"Then maybe he should have stepped up to the plate some time within the last four months since Steph has been single," he growled. "Besides, you guys are acting like what we did last night is any of your business when it's not."

"Dude. You guys are sooo harshing my mellow right now." Connie's voice was pained. "Can we not raise our voices so that my head doesn't exploded."

"Of course," he said quietly. "Sorry, Connie. I'm just not use to people jumping into my personal business."

Connie waved a dismissive hand.

The whole time that they had all been bickering, I had stared at him and tried to rack my brain for a memory of last night. It took a minute, but I finally got a brief vision of the two of us dancing at After Dark. It was hot and a lot of lip action. Just the thought of it sent things low in my body clenching.

"You okay?" he asked as he took a few step towards me and dropped down to the floor. He gently moved a stray curl out of my face and gave me a light smile. "You aren't looking too good. Why don't you let me take you back home? We can come back and get you car later when you feel better."

That sounded like the best idea I had heard in a long time. His gentleness and concern moved a large lump into my throat that prevented me from talking, so I just nodded my agreement. No one had been that way with me in a long time and it felt a little nice. It took a few deep breaths to get my stomach calm enough to allow me to sit up. After he pushed more hair back from my face, he took the sun glasses off his head and slid them over my eyes. He gave me the bag of fries and the large Coke to hold as he lifted me off the floor.

"She has legs." Lula sounded pissed and I wasn't sure why.

"But she doesn't feel good. I feel fine and am capable of carrying her." His voice had gone back to doing that growly thing.

"Call me later," Connie said as he turned and started for the door.

The sun was bright, even through the glasses, and pulled a groan from my throat as I turned my face into his neck. "Can you just shoot me when we get back to my place?"

"That wouldn't be any fun," he said with a chuckle. "Why don't we try my hangover remedy before we resort to putting you out of your misery?"

"Why don't I remember us having sex last night?" I asked as he sat me down on the passenger side of his Jeep.

"Because we didn't, Steph," he said as he buckled me in. "I would never have taken advantage of you like that. I'd rather have you remember everything about our first time together than you remember nothing. And I think it would be better for the both of us if you had all of you faculties to make the right decision for yourself."

He walked around the front of the Jeep and jumped in. The ride to my apartment was silent, in a comfortable way. I slid out of my seat before he could get around and pick me up again. He looked a little worried and kept some distance between us while he waited for a wave of nausea to pass through me. It gave me a little satisfaction that I could get rid of most of the worry when I held my hand out to him before we headed up to my apartment.

"I guess we have been kinda dancing around this for a while now, huh?" I asked as he closed and locked my apartment door.

He shrugged. "A few months."

"Why didn't you just ask me out on a date?"

"You were waiting for Ranger." His voice was matter-of-fact as he took my hand and pulled me back to my room. "I know that the two of you care for each other. But he hasn't done anything about it and I really don't think he will. I was just waiting to get past the wedding on Saturday before I asked you out." He gave me a little smile. "You've been really busy helping Mary Lou out and I was hoping that maybe the two of us could go blow some steam off Monday night."

"Monday?"

"Saturday is the wedding and everyone knows that you do Sunday dinner with your parents," he said with a shrug as he pushed me down on the bed and knelt on the floor to take off my shoes and socks. "It's okay if you don't want to. I just thought that since we've been getting along really well lately, that you might want to see what it'd be like to take our relationship to the next level."

He was right. We do get along really well. It wasn't until I really looked at him as he knelt on the floor that I realized that he was one of my best friends. We just kind of gravitated towards each other. Working together, when I filled in at RangeMan, often turned into a full day event. He even fit nicely at my parent's dinner table. It was rare to find someone who could make it all the way through dessert without wanting to shoot Grandma.

A smile started tugging at the corners of my lips. "And if things might happen to go well?"

He took a deep breath and smiled. "Then we'd go out again."

"And just to be clear," I said seriously, "I'm monogamous in my relationships."

He leaned up so that he leaned against the bed between my legs, his face close to mine. "I only want to see you. There's no one else."

"Okay." I nodded my head. "Monday after work."

A bright smile flashed across his face, all white teeth. "Now I can torture you with my hangover cure."

I felt wary. "And that would be?"

He slowly pushed me back on the bed and pulled my legs up. "Good old fashioned snuggling with someone who gives a damn and water with a side of Tylenol."

"What?" My mouth gaped open. "That's not a cure!"

"It sure as hell isn't," he agreed. "But I have the day off and I'm tired and you felt really nice when I was sleeping with you in my arms this morning. So be quiet and just lay down."

It turned out that he was right. Laying down and sleeping next to someone who gives a damn is really nice, he felt really nice. There was a peace that stole into my heart as I laid with my head on his chest and listened to his heart beat as he gently rubbed my lower back. Maybe, just maybe, this was the best hangover I've ever had.