Continuation Challenge….

For Challenge one.

Don't own em, just borrow em.

"You could have died." She said again. "You could have died, and never known I loved you."

"I knew." I felt her stiffen at my words, and she pushed back to look at me again. Her eyes shone like liquid cristal, and I carefully moved my arm to brush the tears from her cheeks.

"You were going to sacrifice yourself for me. And Julie. You knew you were going to get shot." She accused. "Don't EVER do that again."

I realized then, how serious she was. She couldn't bear to lose me. But that goes both ways. My life would be empty without her. I focused my thoughts back to her demand.

"Babe. It's what I do."

I walked into my apartment, a long time later. It had been an emotional, exhausting afternoon at Ranger's. The last thing I needed, or wanted, was to find Joe sprawled on my couch. When I walked into the living room, he flicked off the television and turned to meet my eyes.

"You were at Ranger's." He said, and it wasn't a question. There wasn't much I could say to that, so I just nodded. "Any particular reason you spent the entire day with him?"

"I..I didn't." I narrowed my eyes. "I took Melvin to court, and then brought Ranger's computer equipment back to him."

"And that took the entire afternoon and half the evening? Stephanie, it's eight thirty at night."

I stared at him for a long minute, and I could see his eyes grow more and more dull as each second passed. "He's hurt, Joe. I stayed to help him out." I said, hating myself for the desperate quality in my voice.

"Yeah." Joe blew out a breath. "I thought we were spending the evening together."

"I..." I didn't know how to say it. I had completely forgotten. The emotionally charged conversation with Ranger, and my inability to sleep well since he'd been shot had blanked my memory. "I'm sorry." I whispered.

Joe cut his eyes away from mine, looking at the closed door, at my bag sitting haphazardly on the counter, anywhere but at me. "And I've been thinking, while I waited for you. I think maybe we should take a break."

"A break?" His words hit me like a ton of bricks. He wanted to take a break? To break it off? To be off-again? "What kind of break?"

He reached out, and tucked curl behind my ear, his finger trailing gently across my cheek. "A long one."

I looked directly at him, and felt my eyes filling with tears. Crap. As if I haven't cried enough today. "How long? Forever long?"

"No. Yes. Maybe. Christ Cupcake, I don't know. What's going on between you and Ranger?"

"Nothing." I stated. And it was true. Ranger didn't want anything.

"What do you want there to be between you and Ranger?" He tried, after staring at me for a long moment with an odd expression on his face.

I didn't have an answer to that. I didn't know what I wanted. Joe stepped forward and hugged me gently, before setting me a step back, his hands on my shoulders, and looking me in the eyes. I could barely see him, through the tears that I wouldn't let fall..not yet.

"Steph... I saw you after he was shot. You've never been like that. I saw him when you were missing. He looked worse than I did. You can't tell me there isn't something between you two."

Well, there was, but I tried to deny it from myself, too. "You hate Ranger. You think he's psycho." Was all I could come up with.

"He offered his life for you." Joe said, then shook his head. "And he never thought twice about it. Hell, he never even thought about it. He just did it." I didn't need that reminder. It was all too close to my heart, and the fact that I knew, I KNEW that he would do it all over again, scared me. "He'll need some help while he recovers, I'd imagine." He added, the twitch in his jaw making it clear just how much it cost him to say it.

"So you want to talk a break."

"I think it's the best thing we could do. You need to figure out what you want. Who you want. When you do, let me know." He kissed me softly on the lips, then stepped around me and opened the door.

"Why?" I asked, my voice sounding faint in my ears.

Joe stopped in the doorway, turned, and smiled sadly at me. "There's this old saying. If you love someone, set them free. If they come back to you, they're yours. If they don't, then they were never yours to begin with. I love you, Cupcake. Very much. And I hope like hell you come back. But if I don't let you go, don't MAKE you go, I'll always wonder." Then the door closed, and he was gone.

In a daze, I stumbled to the couch and fell into it. Joe and I were done. On a break. Indefinitely. I had thought I was going to cry, but I found that more than that, I was too numb. I love him, I thought. I loved him. But I couldn't go back yet - he wouldn't believe it. I don't know how long I sat on the couch. I didn't want to go to bed, I wouldn't sleep anyhow. I couldn't close my eyes without seeing Ranger, bleeding on my living room floor.

As soon as that vision was in my head, I couldn't stand staying in the apartment any longer. I rushed to my bedroom, threw some clothes into a duffel bag, and left. I had no clear idea of where I was going until I was already driving, turning onto Haywood Street. Soon after I pulled into the parking lot, and parked in one of Ranger's spots. I gave the camera a finger wave, my bag slung over my shoulder, and rode the elevator to the seventh floor.

The apartment was dark when I entered. I set the duffel down very gently, and slid my feet out of my shoes before padding my way towards the bedroom, soft as little cat feet. I was reminded of the time Ranger had quoted Sandburg to me, at Uncle Mo's. I stopped in the doorway to his room and took a long look at the dark outline of his form, relieved as my eyes adjusted and I could see the gentle rise and fall of his breathing. In truth, I had planned on sleeping on the couch - just being close to him, but his presence drew me. I wanted the comfort that being near him could bring. Carefully, quietly, I stripped to my underwear and slid in beside him, closest to his uninjured side, curling up against him.

"Babe." He murmured, turning his head towards me. "What're you doing here?"

I stumbled over the irony of the only thing I could think to say next. "Morelli sent me back to you."