Author's Note: Occasionally I hear a song that sparks a story. As much as a I try to ignore them, they will not leave my head until I write them down. Here's hoping this means the writer's block I've been experiencing for several months now is coming to an end.

The song is "The River and the Highway" recorded by Pam Tillis in 1996. It is a beautiful song that not many people remember. I recommend going to youtube and listening to the song while you read the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Stephanie Plum. She belongs to Janet Evanovich. I also don't own the song "The River and the Highway". I could never do justice to the song the way Pam Tillis does.

The River and the Highway

She follows the path of least resistance

She doesn't care to see the mountain top

She twists and turns with no regard to distance

She never comes to a stop

Tank watched his best friend watch Stephanie Plum as she stood arguing with Joe Morelli next to yet another firebombed vehicle. Currently they were in one of their "on" phases but Tank had the feeling that status was about to change yet again. Both were yelling and waving their arms. It was the same argument over again. He wanted her stop, settle down and be burg wife. That's not the life she wanted. She wanted to see and do. She didn't want her life to be cooking, cleaning and raising babies.

"She is a force a nature." Ranger muttered as he watched her turn and walk away from a still yelling Morelli.

Tank silently agreed. "You going after her?" he asked.

"No." Ranger said as he shook his head. He looked like he wanted to say more, but no more words were forthcoming. If you didn't know Ranger, you would have missed the sadness in his eyes as he watched the retreating figure.

When Tank looked like he was about to respond, Ranger gave him a dangerous look. "You know why." He said and then turned his head back to see Stephanie getting into Lula's car. "Put a man her." He ordered before turning around and walking to his Porsche.

And she rolls, she's river

Where she goes, time will tell

Heaven knows, he can't go with her

And she rolls, all by herself

All by herself

"Watch out for her while I'm gone" Ranger ordered the men sitting at the conference table. "I'm in the wind for at least a couple of months."

All the men at the table gave solemn nods. They know exactly how much Stephanie meant to Ranger and would do everything they could to protect her while he was gone.

He's headed for a single destination

He doesn't care what's standing in his path

He's line between two points of separation

He ends just where it says to on the map

Ranger looked around the jungle and made note of the team members' positions. He looked at the map again and determined it was approximately 2 clicks straight through the jungle to their target.

As with most of his missions the last several years, this was a strictly "off the books" mission. If he and his men died here, no one outside his commanding officer would ever know what happened to them. The jungle would entirely consume them until no trace remained. He was determined that would not happen. He would get back, if for no other reason than to make sure she was okay.

Ranger shook his head. Now was not the time to think about Stephanie. If he wanted to make it back home, he had to focus on the mission at hand.

With his determination renewed, he faded into the bush and silently progressed toward the target.

And he rolls, he's a highway

Where he goes, time will tell

Heaven knows, she can't go with him

And he rolls, all by himself

Ranger got off the plane still in camos with his pack across his shoulder. Tank wasn't hard to spot.

"How is she?" he asked as he reached his best friend.

Tank hesitated and Ranger noticed. "What happened?" he demanded in growl. "Did the stalker get to her?"

Tank rushed to reassure him. "We got the guy. He never touched her. She's fine, physically."

"What do you mean, physically?" Ranger looked ready to commit murder.

"She caught Morelli with Joyce." Tank told him. "She bruised her hand when she punched him, but she didn't break anything."

And every now and then, he offers her a shoulder

And every now and then, she overflows

And every now and then, a bridge crosses over

It's moment that every lover knows

Ranger took a moment to study Stephanie's face as he collected the dinner dishes to take back to the kitchen. Ella had prepared a wonderful meal of shrimp scampi with a salad and chocolate cake for dessert. Ranger ate the salad and Stephanie ate the cake. It worked out well. Except, Ranger could see the faint lines under her eyes that told him she wasn't sleeping.

Ranger left the dishes in the sink for Ella to collect later. He returned to the table and took Stephanie by the hand. Hand in hand they walked into the living room where that sat next to each other on the couch and proceeded to watch whatever movie was currently playing.

They didn't speak for a while but it was a comfortable silence as they watched the hero running from the bad guys and blow things up. Then, the movie went from action and adventure to a love scene where the hero got the girl. It was pretty tame stuff, but Ranger's keen hearing picked up the first "sniff" Stephanie made.

Knowing there were no words that would make this better, he simply pulled her onto his lap and let her cry.

And she rolls (and he rolls)

She's a river (he's a highway)

Where she goes (where he goes)

Time will tell (Time will tell)

Heaven knows she can't go with him (he can't go with her)

And she rolls all by herself

And he rolls all by himself

Fare thee well

"Will we ever have our someday?" Stephanie asked Ranger, several months after her breakdown at his apartment, as they were sitting in one of the Rangeman SUVs waiting on one of her skips to make an appearance.

"Yes. Just don't give up on us." Ranger told her, looking straight into her eyes.