Standard disclaimer applies: Not my characters, not making any money, yada yada...

Twelve Theory

Stephanie struggled upward through several layers of consciousness before realizing what had awakened her. She blinked in the darkness as she tried to locate her cell phone by sound. Finally awake enough to make an honest effort, she reached for the phone with a grimace, intending to give whoever was on the other end a piece of her mind.

Until she saw the caller id. Hesitant now, she answered with a question.

"Ranger?"

"Babe."

"Are you okay?"

"I was about to ask you the same question."

"I'm fine, what's going on?"

"I need you to do something for me." His voice was firm and commanding. It never occurred to her to say no, or even question him.

"Anything."

His tone softened considerably. "Get your gun out of the cookie jar and in your hand. Tank's on his way over. Don't let anyone in but him, and stay in his sight. I'll be there soon."

She was scared now, but put her trust in Ranger. "Soon? I thought you were in Miami."

"My plane landed a couple of minutes ago. We'll talk when I get there."

She started to ask what had happened, but he'd already disconnected. Sighing, Steph shuffled into the kitchen to get her gun. Halfway back to the bedroom, she thought to check that it was loaded. It was, though she had no memory of doing so.

Shaking her head with a smile, she decided she'd better dress if Tank was coming over. She threw on a pair of jeans and a stretchy T-shirt, and was just wrangling her hair into a ponytail when there was a soft knock on the door.

Must be Tank, she thought to herself. But what if it wasn't? Ranger had warned her not to let anyone in but Tank. Taking a deep breath, she held her gun by her thigh as she approached the door.

"Who is it?" she asked quietly, her hand tense on the gun.

"It's Tank, Miss Plum. Ranger was supposed to call and tell you to expect me."

She opened the door, relieved. "It's Steph, and he did. Come on in."

Tank smiled his approval of the gun in her hand before locking the door behind him.

She looked up at him. "Tank, what the hell is going on?"

He stilled completely. The silence dragged on for a few minutes before he finally said "It's not my place to tell you."

She stared at him, annoyed, before giving up on getting any information from him. "Fine. Want some coffee?"

He nodded as he answered. "Coffee would be great."

She was grateful to have something to do, as she'd never been good at waiting. She yawned, and suddenly realized she had no idea what time it was. "Hey Tank, what time is it?"

He paused very briefly before answering. "Almost four o'clock."

She turned to stare at him. "In the morning?"

Tank grinned over at her. "Yes."

"Oh hell."

She poured coffee for each of them. He nodded his thanks, and she began to feel awkward just standing here in the kitchen.

Setting her coffee down, she looked up at Tank "Ranger said I'm not to be out of your sight. Will you come with me while I pack a bag?"

She would have thought it would be harder than that to startle one of Ranger's men. The thought made her grin. Tank was still staring at her. "You're packing a bag?"

Slowly, she explained herself. "Whatever this is, it's serious enough for Ranger to fly back from Miami. It's serious enough to drag both of us out of bed at this ungodly hour; me to arm myself, and you to come guard me. Do you really think he's just going to come over, explain everything, and let me go back to bed?"

Tank was shaking his head. "No. I just expected more argument from you."

Steph shrugged. "Hard for me to argue when I don't have a clue what's going on. Besides, I'm trying to learn to pick my battles."

Tank almost smiled. "So what can I do to help?"

"Just come with me and stay out of my way."

She hurriedly threw clothes and toiletries into a duffle bag, then glanced around the room, trying to figure out what she might have missed. Giving up, she deposited the bag next to her front door and headed back into the kitchen, Tank trailing behind her.

She warmed her coffee, then stood watching Rex's cage over the rim as she sipped. She took a zip lock bag out of her cupboard and loaded it with hamster nuggets, a few grapes, and carrot sticks. Steph put the bag on top of the cage before moving the cage nearer the door.

She was running out of distractions. She turned to Tank and asked, "Now what?"

The words were barely out of her mouth before Tank was shoving her roughly behind him, his gun appearing in his hand before she'd had a chance to blink. Steph just had time to note that she could hear the locks tumbling on her front door before she heard a welcome voice.

"It's Ranger. I'm coming in."

Tank relaxed a little, and let her come out from behind him before meeting Ranger at the door.

"Problems?" Ranger asked his friend.

Tank shook his head. "Ram's got the fire escape. I'll be on the front door. We need to move fast."

"Agreed. Thanks."

Tank walked out the front door. Ranger locked it behind him before turning to Stephanie. Indicating the coffee cup in her hand, he asked "Is there any more of that?"

Her eyes widened, but she poured him a cup without comment. He accepted the cup, and used his free hand to pull her to him. Steph wrapped her arms around him, silent. As curious as she was about whatever had caused all of this, a large part of her wasn't sure she wanted to know.

After several minutes, she pulled back enough to say "Okay, what's going on?"

His hand slipped from her shoulder to grasp her hand. He answered as he led her to the living room. "That's going to take a little time to explain. Why don't we get comfortable."

She was growing more nervous by the second. Ranger looked...grim. That couldn't be a good sign.

They sat on the couch, facing each other. Stephanie couldn't stand the tension or the waiting, and blurted "What happened?!"

Ranger's jaw clenched, but he met her eyes. "My daughter's been kidnapped."

Stephanie pressed a hand to her chest. "What? Oh God...how can I help?"

"We need to keep you safe, and I need you to pay attention to your 'Spidey Sense.' There is reason to believe you're in danger as well."

"I don't understand, do you know who took her?"

"Yes and no."

"I'm getting more confused by the minute."

"There are indications that Talia was taken by my wife."

"Your..." she couldn't say the word. "I thought you were divorced!"

"Not exactly."