JE created the character's below. She deserves all the credit.

Fredda (Rangergirl1234) you also deserve the credit if this chapter has any clarity to it. Thank you for your hard work as the beta on this story.

Chapter 4 - Checking In

Tank's POV

When I turned off the truck in the garage I turned to see the woman sitting next to me. She had pulled out a little mirror from her pocketbook and was madly pressing on her face with a fluffy thing that looked like it came off the back end of a rabbit. A few swipes of tar on her eyelashes and she announced she was ready to go. If I hadn't just seen her break down I wouldn't guess what weight she was carrying on her shoulders right now.

"Are you sure…" I started to ask, wondering if this was a huge mistake.

She put her hand up and stopped me from finishing the question. "I'm sure there is nothing I can do for the next three days. If I'm going to get through it I need to stay distracted and work is the best way for me to do that. I'm not sure me trying to catch any skips is the best idea today so I'd love a chance to pretend everything is alright until I know for sure that it's not." She explained, once more giving me just enough detail to confirm something was wrong, but not enough to really now what was going on.

I nodded, believing that she needed to stay busy and thinking it was probably a good idea to have her close. I was way out of my league to think I knew what she needed, but I was smart enough to know at some point this strong face she was hiding behind was going to fall and someone needed to be there when that happened. As we walked to the elevator together I silently prayed Ranger would be back before she fell apart. He didn't talk any more than I did, but they seemed to understand each other, and I figured he would know how she was just by looking at her.

We settled in with me giving her contracts that had been completed that we needed to create invoices for and giving her free reign to design the billings. I could hear her fingers madly typing so I knew she was getting it done.

I was reviewing the nightly reports of the calls that were responded to and making notes for the guys in order to complete the files. There were a few areas that were routinely weak in our reports which made me think as much as we all hated it, some training was going to be necessary. It had been a long time since I had this much time to devote to reviewing the reports, so I had a feeling I'd contributed to the sloppy details by not reading them slowly enough to catch this kind of stuff. Having Steph help with the office stuff was giving me the time I needed to focus on the important details that I was good at.

My desk phone rang and I answered it with a simple, "RangeMan."

"Tank," came the familiar voice of my friend.

"Ranger, man how are you?" I said, more relieved to hear his voice that I usually was when he was on a mission.

"I'm trying to shuffle through the debrief to get clearance for tomorrow." He replied, giving me several details at once.

"Call me with the details and we'll arrange your pick up," I replied, letting him know I'd gotten the message that he would be home in two days.

"RangeMan?" He asked, letting me know he wanted a brief on how the business was flowing.

"Good, new contracts are complete and Vinnie's happy," I replied, letting him know new business was coming in and the standard clients were all maintained.

"Don't start piling the paperwork on my desk just because I'll be back soon," he threatened as a long standing joke between us.

"No worries there, it's all caught up," I said with a smile, knowing that would catch him off guard.

"How'd you manage that? Is one of the guys on desk duty?" He fired back, insinuating the only way I'd have it all done was if someone was injured and could help me.

"Not exactly," I told him, knowing my lack of details wouldn't be acceptable.

"Report," he barked out, clearly not happy with my disclosure.

"Steph has been helping me organize the office and she has one hell of a business head on her shoulders. She got through a couple of days worth of reports in a matter of hours. I don't know why you didn't bring her into the business side of things sooner," I said knowing he wouldn't appreciate me talking about her like that.

"You got Steph to sit behind a desk happily?" He asked, sounding doubtful.

"Technically, she's sitting at a table in my office but yes, she volunteered to do it," I explained.

"Is she there now?" He surprised me by asking.

"Affirmative," I said knowing he'd want to talk to her but not volunteering it so he'd have to ask for it.

"Pass the phone to her," he demanded. I guess he didn't have to ask for it after all.

"Hey Steph," I said with the phone away from my face. "There's a guy on the phone demanding to talk to you. He's kind of gruff but since he's our boss I think you should take it," I teased hoping at least one of them would find some humor in my description of Ranger.

She jumped up and nearly fell over trying to get to the phone. It was the first hint of life I'd seen in her eyes in days. "Give me that," she demanded with her hand stretched out for the telephone.

"Ranger?" her voice nearly cracked saying his name, but her face had a smile that was definitely genuine. I looked back down at a report from Lester from yesterday afternoon and held a pen in my hand but it was just for show. I was trying to listen in on her conversation and hoped my acting skills wouldn't give away my intent to eavesdrop.

She gave a few one word answers and kept her bottom lip between her teeth in-between her responses. Eventually she asked, "When are you coming home?" A few minutes of silence passed before she said, "Fine," and then followed it up with a defensive, "I'm sure." I knew Ranger wasn't buying it.

She wasn't hitting him with questions or talking his ear off the way one would expect. But the fact that her knuckles were turning white told me the grip on the phone was just an outward sign of the fact that she needed him here. He might think distance from him was the best thing for her but I'd kick his ass if he tried to push her away when he got back. She needed somebody, and I was willing to try and be that person but it was obvious that the person she most needed was Ranger.

Eventually she said, "You too," and then handed the phone back to me before slowly walking to the window in my office and looking out with her back to me.

"Boss," I said into the receiver to let him know she was gone.

"What the hell is wrong with Stephanie?" He demanded. I knew he would see through her attempt at a strong face from her.

I didn't want her to know we were talking about her but I wanted to warn him. "Don't know, but I agree."

"Stalkers, or bad take down?" He wondered.

"None," I confirmed.

"Cop?" He followed up.

"Not an issue. Just the way it should be," I explained hoping he understood I meant they were friendly, which is all they should ever try to be for each other. Honestly, we were all thrilled when they called it quits the last time. We couldn't put our finger on it but we all knew this time was for good and she seemed so happy afterward that we began to relax our approach with Morelli. He was a good cop, so it was helpful to have him on our side but when they were together it was hard to watch the way he tried to change her.

I wanted to clue him in this was medical but with Steph so close I couldn't risk betraying her confidence. Finally he hit the nail on the head, "Does she need to see a doctor?" He asked.

"Already done, but there's a lot more there to be investigated," I cryptically responded.

"Shit, what's wrong with her?" He wondered.

"No idea," I told him honestly.

I knew he didn't like that response but it was all I had to give him. "Stay as close to her as you can. I'll call you when I've got my discharge and my flight home arranged. I'll see if there's something I can do from here to speed things along. Does she need anything?"

"Just you," I told him, curious how he would respond to that.

Silence ticked by and he finally let out a breath long enough I could hear it on the phone. "I'm on it."

Well what do you know? Maybe I wouldn't have to kick his ass after all.

Stephanie's POV

"Ranger?" I said fighting against my instincts to cry while saying his name.

"Hey Babe, I understand you've been keeping Tank from passing off a pile of work onto me." He said allowing me to hear a smile in his voice. It was amazing how I could pick up on the subtle differences even without seeing his face. This was the voice I heard so often in my dreams and I was convinced I knew every nuance it contained.

I agreed in the hope that he would say something else. "I'm just about done here and it was nice to get a good report from Tank for once instead of listening to him complain about administration." He followed up. Again I just agreed.

There was a brief pause so I blurted out, "When are you coming home?"

"It should take me a couple of days to finish up here and then I'll make arrangements to fly back." He replied before saying, "How are you?"

"Fine," I quickly replied giving him my standard answer to that question lately.

"Are you sure?" He pressed, making me think he could see through my weak defenses.

"I'm sure," I tried to reiterate but his closing comments made me think he wasn't buying it. Maybe he knew all the subtle differences in my voice too.

"I'll be home soon and we'll catch up then," he said letting me know my time on the phone with him was coming to a close. Instinctively I gripped the receiver tighter wanting to prolong the connection, but not able to say anything to keep him engaged. Finally he said, "Be careful, Babe."

"You too," I weakly replied and then handed the phone to Tank. I stood up and made my way over to the window to look out and pull myself together. I could hear Tank making short comments to Ranger but I had no idea what they were discussing, so I gave up trying to eavesdrop. Honestly the guys said so little on the phone it was doubtful I could figure out what they were talking about even if I had both sides of the conversation.

I looked down and saw cars moving around and people out walking on the sidewalk. I lifted my hand and rested my fingertips on the cool glass. Their lives were all moving along normally and mine felt like it was standing still. I seemed to be waiting on one thing or another all the time now. I was either waiting for a test or a result, and on top of that, I was waiting on Ranger.

I don't know why it mattered. He had made it very clear that we didn't have a romantic relationship but our friendship seemed to endure. At least it usually did. Anytime I'd really needed him he had just appeared in the past and I guess I wanted him close by in case something like that happened soon. With the medical possibility I was facing I knew I couldn't handle a relationship anyway, but it would be nice to have a best friend.

When Tank hung up, the office was silent and the quiet quickly became deafening. I needed to get out of the office. I was about to announce I was leaving but when I turned around I realized I didn't have a car. Damn it! I was trapped until somebody could give me a ride back to the doctor's office to get my car. I didn't want to have the guys know what was going on so that left Tank.

"Tank, is there anyway you can give me a lift to pick up my car?" I asked, hoping he would understand why I was cutting my work short.

"I can do that, or I can have one of the guys bring it here," he offered.

"No!" I all but shouted at him, causing his eyebrows to rise showing his surprise at my response. I softened it by adding, "I don't want the guys to know. At least not yet."

He nodded and then looked at me for a minute for glancing at his watch. "Did you have breakfast this morning?"

I shook my head no, realizing I was a little hungry now. I didn't have a watch on so I was clueless about what time it was.

"Why don't we swing by Shorty's for an early lunch and if you still want to get your car we can pick it up after." He offered.

I knew I needed to eat and since I couldn't think about much but the lack of information the doctor gave me this morning, I nodded that would be fine. He picked up a file from the corner of his desk and brought it with us but offered no explanation of why.

When we pulled into Shorty's Tank once again parked at the rear entrance and let us in with the key on his ring. I remembered him putting one with my keys yesterday and wondered if he really expected me to ever use it.

We had barely gotten the door closed behind us when Shorty came around the corner with a cross look on his face. When he saw us he stared hard for a few minutes at Tank and then looked to me and asked, "What do you feel like eating?"

I was at a loss as to how I should answer that so I shrugged and said, "Anything's fine, I don't really have a taste for anything."

"Go sit down and I'll get you something." As he began to walk away he called over his shoulder, "Did you have breakfast?"

"No," I replied, wondering what the fascination was in this family with breakfast.

Tank got us both a mug of coffee and brought a handful of small sugar packets for me keeping his black. I dumped four in and by the time the sweet crystals were melted Tank had poured in a little cream to lighten up the brew. I smiled my thanks and took a tentative sip. It wasn't gourmet coffee by any stretch but it was hot and after a few swallows I began to relax from the effect of holding the warm beverage in my hand.

Before I felt the need to say something Shorty reappeared with three plates. Two of them went in front of Tank and one was placed before me. Tank had a tangled mess of bacon with a biscuit, a mountain of eggs, two sausage links and a stack of pancakes. I had two slices of toast and some scrambled eggs. If I'd been myself I would have complained about so little food as compared to Tank, but when I looked at it I thought it seemed about right for what I could handle so I said "Thank you," instead.

"Finish that, and I'll make you anything else you want," he assured me before yelling at the kid washing dishes to quit rushing and get it right the first time.

I looked at Tank and he shrugged as though he were used to his Uncle handing out food and insults. I picked up my fork and took a bite. There was nothing extraordinary about the eggs, but they were warm and I managed to work my way through most of them along with a single piece of toast by the time Tank had polished off all but a single piece of bacon.

I glanced at the bacon and wondered if he'd let me get away with stealing food from his plate. Deciding to push my luck, I reached over when he picked up his coffee cup for a sip and grabbed the last greasy piece of meat and took a bite quickly before he could protest. I saw a smile on his face despite him holding the mug in front of his lips in a weak attempt to hide it.

"You know, I've shot a man for less," he commented in a dry voice after sitting his mug down.

"Good thing I'm not a man," I countered with a smile. I only ate half of the bacon before I'd had enough so I sat it down on my plate. Tank noticed and raised an eyebrow at me. I stuck my tongue out at him in a sign of my extreme maturity and he reached over, picked up the bacon, and put the rest of it in is mouth in one big bite.

"I might not have been done with that, you know," I teased.

"You are now," Tank said with a grin. Amazing, the power of a little breakfast meat. I no longer felt the need to hide at home.

"You still want to get your car?" He asked, giving me the chance to bow out of the rest of the day.

I thought about it for a minute and then shook my head no. "Good," he admitted, standing up. "I'm on for a surveillance shift and you can ride along as my partner."

I followed him to the door and saw Shorty stirring some mystery sauce in a huge pot on the stove. I held up my finger to Tank asking him to wait a minute and walked over to Shorty. I put my arms around him from the back so that my cheek was pressed between his shoulder blades. He put one of his hands on mine and patted them for a second. "Anytime," his deep voice told me, "anytime."

I turned away and walked back to Tank thinking I might have just been told more than 'you're welcome' but I couldn't really tell what more had been said.

Tank's POV

I saw Steph pause at the door and waited when she put up a finger as a signal. But when I realized she was about to get the jump on my Uncle I was torn between curiosity in how he would react and fear that his typical response of yelling at someone for scaring him would be too much for Stephanie. Still, she asked me to wait so I stayed at the door and noticed she hugged him from behind as though they were related and this was their typical form of communication. He didn't even jump despite the fact I couldn't remember anyone hugging my Uncle since my Aunt died a few years ago. He wasn't exactly the fluffy, emotional, hugging kind of guy.

He said something to her and her face relaxed but she didn't respond. After a brief period she let go and walked over to me looking as though she were trying to figure out one of the great mysteries of the universe. I decided to let it go and not interrupt. Some things we just have to figure out on our own.

I handed her the folder on the skip Anthony Marcus, and drove over to Stark Street. She flipped through it stopping to look at the picture longer than anything else.

When I parked in front of the home address for Marcus I saw her look around and then recline the seat. I wanted to try getting her back in the place we were at Shorty's when she tried to steal the last piece of bacon from my plate. I gladly would have given it to her. The idea that she was trying to play and give me a glimpse of the Steph we were all used to seeing was definitely worth surrendering part of my meal. "Don't get too comfortable, I asked you to come along as my partner, not to go to sleep."

She smiled and brought the back of her chair up slightly but still had a comfortable looking angle. "I guess you would be nervous about me sleeping on a shift with you," she commented, confusing me. Noticing my expression she explained, "The first time you and I worked together I was on the floor in that apartment building and the guy you evicted came back with a shot gun and fired at you."

I'd forgotten about that redecorating job. She was so nervous and clearly hadn't been told at all what we were there to do. I'd laughed every time I thought about her expression when I threw the junkie out the window. I knew there was a fire escape there but I couldn't resist yanking her chain when she panicked that the fall might have killed him.

Even then I knew my boss had a thing for this little girl. I didn't understand it, but I respected him enough to keep my mouth shut and wait. It didn't take long before I began to see why. She was different from any person I'd ever met. The first time he brought her to the office and taught her how to run searches I wondered if he'd lost his mind trying to incorporate her into our world. But I'll be damned if she didn't find a way to get under the skin of the guys and before long people were volunteering to shadow her when there was a call for it. Accepting us came as natural to her as eating doughnuts.

She interrupted my thoughts by asking, "What's that smile for?"

"I was just thinking about how strange it was when Ranger got out of his car with you for that redecorating job. I thought he'd lost his mind," I confessed honestly.

"What, you thought it then, and now that you know me better you are convinced of it?" She replied, pretending to be offended, but the smile on her face blew her act.

"That's right," I teased back. "I'm convinced the man lost his mind by not recognizing how good you are with the business stuff and throwing it all to you instead of me when he's out of town."

"Don't get any ideas mister. I don't like being stuck behind a desk any more than you do, but I don't mind helping a little here and there," she countered back.

We bantered back and forth remembering some of her less than graceful escapades and our different perspectives of what happened, and by the time I saw Binkie and Brett pull up behind us, I realized we'd passed four hours in the truck together.

"How about we get that car now," I offered, pulling away and heading for the doctor's office once more.

About three blocks from the parking lot she spoke up, "I have to have another test in three days. The doctor said the last one showed something that could be bad, but might not be, so I have to have a test by a surgeon on Friday. Once he gets the results of that he'll know exactly what's going on and what I have to do then."

She had done it again in providing me just enough information to know it was serious but not enough to really know what was wrong. Instead of hitting her up with questions since I didn't think she really wanted to talk about it, I said "What time will I be picking you up on Friday?"

She hadn't responded by the time I parked the truck so I turned to face her and repeated the question. She shook her head and answered, "You don't have to take me. I don't think he'll be putting me to sleep. It's just a needle and a local so I can drive myself."

"You need to understand that just because you can do something doesn't mean you have to. You could drive yourself, but you don't have to because I'm telling you I'll do it. I can bring you here and wait in the parking lot if you want to do it alone. But I think when it's over you'll appreciate having someone here waiting for you." I told her, trying to deflate her argument. "So what time do I need to pick you up?"

"It's at 8:00, on the third floor, so I need to leave by 7:40 at the latest." She finally admitted.

I put a hand on hers and tried to reassure her, "I won't tell anybody and I'm not saying you need me, but I thought it would be better to know I was here than discover you need someone and have to wait for me to arrive."

She looked at our hands and asked, "Do you promise? I mean, not to tell anybody."

I could tell from the way she said anybody that she meant Ranger. "I'll keep your secret, but for the record he's going to know something's up and he's going to want to know what it is."

"I'll tell him as soon as I know, but until I get a definitive word one way or the other I don't want to worry anybody else. This all may be one big false alarm, and if it is I don't want to upset him while he's trying to get settled in at work again." She started drawing in her bottom lip again and I could see the lightness she'd had for a few hours this afternoon was gone.

"Alright, Little Girl, but he's pretty good at picking up on things so hiding this from him isn't going to be easy," I warned her.

"It's just a few days, Tank, and then I'll tell him myself what's been going on." She looked out the window and I could see her struggling to stay on top of her emotions.

I figured a change of subject was in order so I said, "Tomorrow, I have another surveillance shift from noon to four. Do you want to ride shotgun again?"

When she faced me once more her tears were under control. "I'll come in to catch up on my searches in the morning. I'm pretty sure since someone has been monopolizing my time in the office that Rodriguez has been piling up the work for me. Come by my cubicle and let me know when you're ready to leave."

I figured that was the best I could hope for to fulfill Ranger's request that I keep her close until he got back. I watched as she got out of the truck and opened her car door. Waiting until she started the car and drove away I sat there for a minute mulling over what she had said. The words needle and a local, surgeon, and results that could be bad kept replaying in my head. In my mind that all added up to cancer but I figured it was probably best to take a page from Steph's playbook and not worry about it now. This might be one big false alarm and there was no point in worrying about it until we knew for sure.

Driving away I realized what an impossible task that was. I wasn't sure what concerned me more, the effect bad news might have on Stephanie or the effect it would have on the rest of us. She brought life into our dark lives and since she'd established herself as a part of RangeMan we all seemed to revolve around the energy she provided.

I pulled into the garage determined to keep her secret but needing to get the worry out somehow. Deciding I should turn to the therapist that had never let me down I went up to four and changed before heading down to the gym. That punching bag had never failed me and I didn't have to worry about the secrets of my fists getting out.