I do not own any of these characters, although I would really like to meet
up with Ranger in a dark room somewhere. I simply borrow and gently use
them for my amusement.
Chapter Seven An Adult Conversation
Steph made her way back up the stairs, out the security door, and headed for the ladies' room. She had to do some clean up and rearranging. She looked herself over in the mirror. Her lips were slightly swollen, there was a slight bruise building on her neck, and her hair was perfect. Wow. When she pushed open the ladies' room door to leave, she saw Ranger was at the same table Tank had previously occupied. He had two drinks in front of him, and motioned her to come over. "I don't think Jason will want to see Kim anymore."
Clearing her throat, Steph managed to agree. "No, I think he saw enough of her downstairs." She was unsure what else to say. This hadn't been your typical distraction job, and she had had some emotions and feelings swirling up inside of her. She was still processing what had happened.
She felt icky. Dirty. She didn't like the things she had to do for this particular job. Simple skip tracing was better than this shit.
And how on earth was she going to look Tank, Bobby, or Lester in the eye again? She'd turn pink to the roots of her hair every time she saw them. Ranger seemed to pick up on her unease a little. "Once Tank gives me the all clear, we'll leave."
So they sat in silence until the big guy made his way over. "Boss, Bombshell. We've cleared out. Back to headquarters?"
Ranger got up and nodded. "Take Stephanie home on the way. I have some things to tie up before I go." Then he left.
The abruptness of his departure chilled Stephanie. Something was wrong, and she wondered if it was something she did, but what? She had done the job he's asked her to do. Sure, she had to do some improvising, not always her strong point, but she had kept the guy busy and gotten him to the meeting point on time.
Shit. Could Ranger tell that she enjoyed some of it? But how could he blame her! He wasn't back in her bed, no one was in her bed, so no one could tell her what to enjoy or not enjoy, dammit. But now she felt bad. Ranger wasn't even driving back with her.
And then she realized that meant she was driving back with either Tank, who still made her nervous, or Lester and Bobby, who she could not look at right now without feeling embarrassed. She hoped Tank would be her driver.
"C'mon, Bombshell." Tank grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the exit. She could see the car had already been pulled around; did that mean that someone else was driving with them? She panicked.
Tank picked up on her panic, which had slowed her feet. He looked her over and shook his head. "I told Ranger this might not be a good idea."
That snapped Steph out of it. "What do you mean?"
Tank motioned to the car. "If you get in, I'll explain on the ride." When her head pivoted in several directions, he sighed. "No one is riding with us. Is that a problem?"
Actually, when Steph considered it, it might be one. Tank's behavior towards her earlier tonight...she suddenly wasn't entirely comfortable with that, either. But she needed to get home, and who knew when Ranger would be leaving. Or if he would even consent to being in the same car as her. She frowned, "Not unless you make it one." She tried to sound threatening, but she just didn't do threatening well. Tank chuckled as he opened the door for her.
"I will be a perfect gentleman."
She hopped up and he closed the door. While he went around to the driver's side, Steph carefully adjusted her dress so that it covered up as much of her body as possible. It was a very little dress, so it took a great deal of concentration. She jumped when Tank slammed his door.
The look on Tank's face was hard to read. "We gotta talk."
"We are talking," Steph mumbled grumpily. Tank ignored the comment and went on.
"Can you handle what happened tonight?"
"I'm fine."
"No, Steph, really. You're just a girl from the burg, and this whole job was a twisted mess. I have a feeling you're a little uncomfortable." He smiled at her gently. "I mean, how many times have you eye-witnessed group sex?"
Steph coughed. "I'm uncomfortable discussing this."
"That was a rhetorical question. After all, its not Thursday night." Tank gave a small smile. "At least I'd hoped you didn't have a positive answer for it."
Steph gave him a half-smile. "This was not the job I thought I'd signed on for, that's for sure."
Tank shifted into drive and pulled out into traffic. "This wasn't a typical job. I'm not sure why Ranger took it. But he I think he found it to be a very convenient...test."
She was a little distracted with the throbbing headache she felt building. "What was the test?"
"Me."
Through narrowed eyes, and in a very pissed off voice, Steph tersely said, "What?"
Tank had the temerity to chuckle. "We were supposed to be a couple on a date. Ranger didn't trust himself to be able to play-act that with you and still be able to concentrate on the job, so he asked me. He trusts me."
"What did he trust you to do, Tank? You were pretty damn friendly." Steph stated hotly.
"I think he wanted to see how you would react to me making a pass at you, for real. Not just as part of the job."
"WHAT? WHY THE HELL-"Steph yelled.
Wincing, Tank shouted over her. "Listen, will you?"
Steph snapped her mouth shut and crossed her arms in front of her.
Waiting to see if she would really let him continue, Tank changed lanes. "Ranger likes you a lot, Steph. I know most of what's happened between you. Do you know why he hasn't tried to sleep with you since Morelli's out of the picture?"
That was a question that Stephanie had been asking herself for some time. The only answers she came up with were not self-flattering, so she had tried to ignore them and the question as well. "I wish I knew."
"Think about it, Steph. It's obvious you two have chemistry; it's been obvious for months." Tank looked in the mirror at her hopefully. "Don't you get it?"
"No," she sighed. "I don't know how Ranger's mind works."
"I've known Ranger forever, and I don't know how his mind works all the time."
Steph interrupted. "For how long?"
"What?" Tank asked, confused.
"How long have you known him?"
"We grew up together. I don't remember a time when I didn't know him." Tank got a smile on his face as he thought about it. "We've been best friends for just as long. And I have to tell you, you have the ability to turn him inside out like no other woman ever has."
Steph smiled grimly. "Nice to know."
Tank's turn to sigh. "You aren't getting this. Let me be blunt. And keep in mind this is what I think, not what I know, because Ranger hasn't exactly confided in me about this. Ranger wants you, but he doesn't want you at any cost. He doesn't want to be rebound man after Morelli, and he doesn't just want sex with you. I think he wants something more, but he's afraid you don't." Tank studied her in the mirror again, as best he could. "Do you?"
Steph teared up. "I don't know what I want, that's the whole damn problem. I've spent my entire thirty-three years of existence just letting life happen around me and letting it drag me in. I just have things fall in my lap, and I pick it up like a new toy and play with it until it breaks. Then I wait for a new toy, instead of going out to look for one that I really want."
Tank frowned. "I think I get you. You've been thinking a lot since Morelli split, huh?"
"Yeah." Steph opened her small bag and extracted a hanky. "And I'm glad he went. I almost had myself talked into marrying him, that it would be a good thing because that's what I'm supposed to do. I should have learned something a little more from my first marriage, but I guess I didn't."
"What should you have learned?" Tank asked.
"I should have learned that I'm really not cut out for that marriage crap. Or at least marriage to someone who puts me down. I deserve better." Steph wiped at her eyes. She couldn't believe that she was having this conversation with Tank, of all people. It was refreshing to hear a new point of view on her situation, though. She hoped she didn't blubber too much.
"Ranger has never put me down. And he's had more cause to do so than most. Christ, I got him shot."
Tank nodded. "That's the kind of guy he is. If he thinks you're an idiot, he just won't deal with you. If he bothers with you, he likes you."
Steph sniffled. "So Ranger likes me."
"He's given you how many cars?" Tank snorted.
"I thought those might be a hint." Steph pulled out the question she hoped Tank could answer. "I figured out a while ago that I want Ranger. The hard part is how do I tell him? We played this stupid game for so long, I don't know if he'll believe me. Especially after tonight."
Tank leaned his head to one side, then the other, quickly cracking his neck. It seemed like a nervous tick. He asked, even though he wasn't sure he wanted the answer. "What part about tonight?"
"Well, I assume the part where you were testing me, I've passed." Steph looked at him. "Not that you weren't really sexy or anything, but you aren't Ranger."
"Thanks," he said, his eyes laughing. "You passed my test; but I haven't said anything about what went on with Ranger."
"Oh, god. Then he must really think I'm whoring it up." Steph slumped down in the seat.
"Huh, I was...other wise occupied for a chunk of time there. What exactly did you do to get Devine down there?"
"Pretty much anything he wanted. The man is all hands." Steph didn't really want to give details.
"Ranger set the job up and knows what might be required in that situation. As long as you weren't fucking the guy-"Tank saw Steph slump down further. "Oh, man, you didn't, did you?"
"Not exactly,"
"Steph, either you did or you didn't. There really isn't a half-way here." Tank looked at her face. She looked miserable. What the hell could she have done that was so bad? "Just what did you do?"
"I had to keep him busy. It's not like I had a choice."
Tank began to have an inkling. "You didn't blow him, did you?"
"Ew! No! That's disgusting, he's a complete stranger-"and then she cut herself off, remembering just what had kept Tank busy. "Oh. Sorry." She looked up at him, and he wasn't the least bit embarrassed.
Actually, he had a shit-eating grin on his face. "Hey, everybody has their preferences."
Great, Steph. You don't respond to his pass and you basically told him he's disgusting, she thought to herself. "It's the stranger part that skeeves me."
"Whatever floats your boat." He was still grinning. "So what did you do that was so horrible? Hand job?"
"You know, these aren't things I normally discuss with a guy. Actually, these are things I just don't normally discuss at all."
Tank felt a little of why Ranger was so frustrated with Stephanie. She was actually very white bread and clean cut; she couldn't even discuss sex. She was blushing. "Bombshell, I think you need to learn to relax and not be embarrassed. Adults have sex and engage in sexual activity. How do you tell the guy your with what you like, if you can't talk about it with a guy?" he ribbed her.
He felt bad about it instantly when he saw her face. He couldn't believe it. "You don't tell the guy what you like. You let him do all the steering."
Her skin burned an even brighter red. "This is that whole being raised Catholic thing, isn't it?" he asked.
She nodded. "It's that going to hell and guilt stuff they cram into your head. I'm already going to hell for just doing it missionary; I don't need to add anything on to that."
Tank whistled and shook his head. "Oh, the things you haven't done that I bet you'd like..." his eyes glazed over a little bit at the picture in his head before he snapped out of it. He at least had the grace to look a little embarrassed at himself. "So tonight really did throw you for loop, then."
She nodded in agreement again. "Please tell me that most of your jobs consist of throwing people out of windows."
Laughter caught her off guard. "You must be pretty uncomfortable with the sex talk if you'd prefer me throwing people out of windows."
"People out of windows is a safe scary." Steph sniffed and wiped her nose with the handkerchief.
Tank shook his head. "Never heard it put that way." He sat in silence for moment. Steph really was an interesting girl. That must be part of what appealed to Ranger. Thinking of Ranger, "So what did you do with this guy that you think Ranger is mad at you for?"
Steph sniffed again. "I told you, it's not like a had a lot of choice." Tank was looking at her in the rearview mirror again. "Don't do that. Don't look at me when I tell you. Shouldn't you be paying attention to the road? I don't want to die in a car crash tonight."
"Quit changing the subject. I can't believe that you are sitting in a car talking to me after you walked in on that scene, but you're chicken to tell me what exactly you did with Devine." Tank made it sound like a dare.
Even at her most scared, a dare would always motivate Stephanie Nicole Plum.
"Don't look at me." Steph reiterated. Taking a deep breath, she recounted how she and Devine made it to the stairs.
"He was going to do you on the stairs? How low-rent can you go."
"Thanks, Tank. That makes me feel better already," Steph intoned.
"Sorry. It's a comment on him, not you." The sorry actually sounded sincere to Steph's ears.
Clearing her throat, Steph tried to take a deep breath and spit it out. She tried, really, but nothing would come out. She cleared her throat again, found her voice, and talked to Tank as she stared out on the road. "He was grabbing me everywhere and had me pushed up against the door. I only had one foot on the ground, and I couldn't really control what was happening. He started rubbing against me, and I couldn't help it. It just felt good. But then Devine got his hands in my panties and almost got them off me. And that's when I saw Ranger watching us from the shadows. He saw the whole thing." Steph got the courage to look at Tank. "Ranger did not look happy. He looked- dangerous."
Tank whistled. "Sounds like you had a full night. Sounds like you did your job, even when it got tough. From what you said, it sounds like you didn't have any choice, tough-as-nails bounty hunter or not. Believe it or not, Ranger will understand."
"If I was just doing my job, maybe he would. But I started to enjoy some of it, and I think it was fairly obvious." Steph chewed her lip. Maybe Ranger wasn't upset. But then why didn't he drive her home?
"You did your job. Given the situation, even if you didn't enjoy it, you were supposed to look like you were. "Tank considered a moment. "And you stopped me cold."
"Ranger was watching, and I did promise you that I would try not to get you shot tonight."
Tank understood the implication. "So you did like it!"
"I told you, you're not bad, but you're not Ranger."
Chapter Seven An Adult Conversation
Steph made her way back up the stairs, out the security door, and headed for the ladies' room. She had to do some clean up and rearranging. She looked herself over in the mirror. Her lips were slightly swollen, there was a slight bruise building on her neck, and her hair was perfect. Wow. When she pushed open the ladies' room door to leave, she saw Ranger was at the same table Tank had previously occupied. He had two drinks in front of him, and motioned her to come over. "I don't think Jason will want to see Kim anymore."
Clearing her throat, Steph managed to agree. "No, I think he saw enough of her downstairs." She was unsure what else to say. This hadn't been your typical distraction job, and she had had some emotions and feelings swirling up inside of her. She was still processing what had happened.
She felt icky. Dirty. She didn't like the things she had to do for this particular job. Simple skip tracing was better than this shit.
And how on earth was she going to look Tank, Bobby, or Lester in the eye again? She'd turn pink to the roots of her hair every time she saw them. Ranger seemed to pick up on her unease a little. "Once Tank gives me the all clear, we'll leave."
So they sat in silence until the big guy made his way over. "Boss, Bombshell. We've cleared out. Back to headquarters?"
Ranger got up and nodded. "Take Stephanie home on the way. I have some things to tie up before I go." Then he left.
The abruptness of his departure chilled Stephanie. Something was wrong, and she wondered if it was something she did, but what? She had done the job he's asked her to do. Sure, she had to do some improvising, not always her strong point, but she had kept the guy busy and gotten him to the meeting point on time.
Shit. Could Ranger tell that she enjoyed some of it? But how could he blame her! He wasn't back in her bed, no one was in her bed, so no one could tell her what to enjoy or not enjoy, dammit. But now she felt bad. Ranger wasn't even driving back with her.
And then she realized that meant she was driving back with either Tank, who still made her nervous, or Lester and Bobby, who she could not look at right now without feeling embarrassed. She hoped Tank would be her driver.
"C'mon, Bombshell." Tank grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the exit. She could see the car had already been pulled around; did that mean that someone else was driving with them? She panicked.
Tank picked up on her panic, which had slowed her feet. He looked her over and shook his head. "I told Ranger this might not be a good idea."
That snapped Steph out of it. "What do you mean?"
Tank motioned to the car. "If you get in, I'll explain on the ride." When her head pivoted in several directions, he sighed. "No one is riding with us. Is that a problem?"
Actually, when Steph considered it, it might be one. Tank's behavior towards her earlier tonight...she suddenly wasn't entirely comfortable with that, either. But she needed to get home, and who knew when Ranger would be leaving. Or if he would even consent to being in the same car as her. She frowned, "Not unless you make it one." She tried to sound threatening, but she just didn't do threatening well. Tank chuckled as he opened the door for her.
"I will be a perfect gentleman."
She hopped up and he closed the door. While he went around to the driver's side, Steph carefully adjusted her dress so that it covered up as much of her body as possible. It was a very little dress, so it took a great deal of concentration. She jumped when Tank slammed his door.
The look on Tank's face was hard to read. "We gotta talk."
"We are talking," Steph mumbled grumpily. Tank ignored the comment and went on.
"Can you handle what happened tonight?"
"I'm fine."
"No, Steph, really. You're just a girl from the burg, and this whole job was a twisted mess. I have a feeling you're a little uncomfortable." He smiled at her gently. "I mean, how many times have you eye-witnessed group sex?"
Steph coughed. "I'm uncomfortable discussing this."
"That was a rhetorical question. After all, its not Thursday night." Tank gave a small smile. "At least I'd hoped you didn't have a positive answer for it."
Steph gave him a half-smile. "This was not the job I thought I'd signed on for, that's for sure."
Tank shifted into drive and pulled out into traffic. "This wasn't a typical job. I'm not sure why Ranger took it. But he I think he found it to be a very convenient...test."
She was a little distracted with the throbbing headache she felt building. "What was the test?"
"Me."
Through narrowed eyes, and in a very pissed off voice, Steph tersely said, "What?"
Tank had the temerity to chuckle. "We were supposed to be a couple on a date. Ranger didn't trust himself to be able to play-act that with you and still be able to concentrate on the job, so he asked me. He trusts me."
"What did he trust you to do, Tank? You were pretty damn friendly." Steph stated hotly.
"I think he wanted to see how you would react to me making a pass at you, for real. Not just as part of the job."
"WHAT? WHY THE HELL-"Steph yelled.
Wincing, Tank shouted over her. "Listen, will you?"
Steph snapped her mouth shut and crossed her arms in front of her.
Waiting to see if she would really let him continue, Tank changed lanes. "Ranger likes you a lot, Steph. I know most of what's happened between you. Do you know why he hasn't tried to sleep with you since Morelli's out of the picture?"
That was a question that Stephanie had been asking herself for some time. The only answers she came up with were not self-flattering, so she had tried to ignore them and the question as well. "I wish I knew."
"Think about it, Steph. It's obvious you two have chemistry; it's been obvious for months." Tank looked in the mirror at her hopefully. "Don't you get it?"
"No," she sighed. "I don't know how Ranger's mind works."
"I've known Ranger forever, and I don't know how his mind works all the time."
Steph interrupted. "For how long?"
"What?" Tank asked, confused.
"How long have you known him?"
"We grew up together. I don't remember a time when I didn't know him." Tank got a smile on his face as he thought about it. "We've been best friends for just as long. And I have to tell you, you have the ability to turn him inside out like no other woman ever has."
Steph smiled grimly. "Nice to know."
Tank's turn to sigh. "You aren't getting this. Let me be blunt. And keep in mind this is what I think, not what I know, because Ranger hasn't exactly confided in me about this. Ranger wants you, but he doesn't want you at any cost. He doesn't want to be rebound man after Morelli, and he doesn't just want sex with you. I think he wants something more, but he's afraid you don't." Tank studied her in the mirror again, as best he could. "Do you?"
Steph teared up. "I don't know what I want, that's the whole damn problem. I've spent my entire thirty-three years of existence just letting life happen around me and letting it drag me in. I just have things fall in my lap, and I pick it up like a new toy and play with it until it breaks. Then I wait for a new toy, instead of going out to look for one that I really want."
Tank frowned. "I think I get you. You've been thinking a lot since Morelli split, huh?"
"Yeah." Steph opened her small bag and extracted a hanky. "And I'm glad he went. I almost had myself talked into marrying him, that it would be a good thing because that's what I'm supposed to do. I should have learned something a little more from my first marriage, but I guess I didn't."
"What should you have learned?" Tank asked.
"I should have learned that I'm really not cut out for that marriage crap. Or at least marriage to someone who puts me down. I deserve better." Steph wiped at her eyes. She couldn't believe that she was having this conversation with Tank, of all people. It was refreshing to hear a new point of view on her situation, though. She hoped she didn't blubber too much.
"Ranger has never put me down. And he's had more cause to do so than most. Christ, I got him shot."
Tank nodded. "That's the kind of guy he is. If he thinks you're an idiot, he just won't deal with you. If he bothers with you, he likes you."
Steph sniffled. "So Ranger likes me."
"He's given you how many cars?" Tank snorted.
"I thought those might be a hint." Steph pulled out the question she hoped Tank could answer. "I figured out a while ago that I want Ranger. The hard part is how do I tell him? We played this stupid game for so long, I don't know if he'll believe me. Especially after tonight."
Tank leaned his head to one side, then the other, quickly cracking his neck. It seemed like a nervous tick. He asked, even though he wasn't sure he wanted the answer. "What part about tonight?"
"Well, I assume the part where you were testing me, I've passed." Steph looked at him. "Not that you weren't really sexy or anything, but you aren't Ranger."
"Thanks," he said, his eyes laughing. "You passed my test; but I haven't said anything about what went on with Ranger."
"Oh, god. Then he must really think I'm whoring it up." Steph slumped down in the seat.
"Huh, I was...other wise occupied for a chunk of time there. What exactly did you do to get Devine down there?"
"Pretty much anything he wanted. The man is all hands." Steph didn't really want to give details.
"Ranger set the job up and knows what might be required in that situation. As long as you weren't fucking the guy-"Tank saw Steph slump down further. "Oh, man, you didn't, did you?"
"Not exactly,"
"Steph, either you did or you didn't. There really isn't a half-way here." Tank looked at her face. She looked miserable. What the hell could she have done that was so bad? "Just what did you do?"
"I had to keep him busy. It's not like I had a choice."
Tank began to have an inkling. "You didn't blow him, did you?"
"Ew! No! That's disgusting, he's a complete stranger-"and then she cut herself off, remembering just what had kept Tank busy. "Oh. Sorry." She looked up at him, and he wasn't the least bit embarrassed.
Actually, he had a shit-eating grin on his face. "Hey, everybody has their preferences."
Great, Steph. You don't respond to his pass and you basically told him he's disgusting, she thought to herself. "It's the stranger part that skeeves me."
"Whatever floats your boat." He was still grinning. "So what did you do that was so horrible? Hand job?"
"You know, these aren't things I normally discuss with a guy. Actually, these are things I just don't normally discuss at all."
Tank felt a little of why Ranger was so frustrated with Stephanie. She was actually very white bread and clean cut; she couldn't even discuss sex. She was blushing. "Bombshell, I think you need to learn to relax and not be embarrassed. Adults have sex and engage in sexual activity. How do you tell the guy your with what you like, if you can't talk about it with a guy?" he ribbed her.
He felt bad about it instantly when he saw her face. He couldn't believe it. "You don't tell the guy what you like. You let him do all the steering."
Her skin burned an even brighter red. "This is that whole being raised Catholic thing, isn't it?" he asked.
She nodded. "It's that going to hell and guilt stuff they cram into your head. I'm already going to hell for just doing it missionary; I don't need to add anything on to that."
Tank whistled and shook his head. "Oh, the things you haven't done that I bet you'd like..." his eyes glazed over a little bit at the picture in his head before he snapped out of it. He at least had the grace to look a little embarrassed at himself. "So tonight really did throw you for loop, then."
She nodded in agreement again. "Please tell me that most of your jobs consist of throwing people out of windows."
Laughter caught her off guard. "You must be pretty uncomfortable with the sex talk if you'd prefer me throwing people out of windows."
"People out of windows is a safe scary." Steph sniffed and wiped her nose with the handkerchief.
Tank shook his head. "Never heard it put that way." He sat in silence for moment. Steph really was an interesting girl. That must be part of what appealed to Ranger. Thinking of Ranger, "So what did you do with this guy that you think Ranger is mad at you for?"
Steph sniffed again. "I told you, it's not like a had a lot of choice." Tank was looking at her in the rearview mirror again. "Don't do that. Don't look at me when I tell you. Shouldn't you be paying attention to the road? I don't want to die in a car crash tonight."
"Quit changing the subject. I can't believe that you are sitting in a car talking to me after you walked in on that scene, but you're chicken to tell me what exactly you did with Devine." Tank made it sound like a dare.
Even at her most scared, a dare would always motivate Stephanie Nicole Plum.
"Don't look at me." Steph reiterated. Taking a deep breath, she recounted how she and Devine made it to the stairs.
"He was going to do you on the stairs? How low-rent can you go."
"Thanks, Tank. That makes me feel better already," Steph intoned.
"Sorry. It's a comment on him, not you." The sorry actually sounded sincere to Steph's ears.
Clearing her throat, Steph tried to take a deep breath and spit it out. She tried, really, but nothing would come out. She cleared her throat again, found her voice, and talked to Tank as she stared out on the road. "He was grabbing me everywhere and had me pushed up against the door. I only had one foot on the ground, and I couldn't really control what was happening. He started rubbing against me, and I couldn't help it. It just felt good. But then Devine got his hands in my panties and almost got them off me. And that's when I saw Ranger watching us from the shadows. He saw the whole thing." Steph got the courage to look at Tank. "Ranger did not look happy. He looked- dangerous."
Tank whistled. "Sounds like you had a full night. Sounds like you did your job, even when it got tough. From what you said, it sounds like you didn't have any choice, tough-as-nails bounty hunter or not. Believe it or not, Ranger will understand."
"If I was just doing my job, maybe he would. But I started to enjoy some of it, and I think it was fairly obvious." Steph chewed her lip. Maybe Ranger wasn't upset. But then why didn't he drive her home?
"You did your job. Given the situation, even if you didn't enjoy it, you were supposed to look like you were. "Tank considered a moment. "And you stopped me cold."
"Ranger was watching, and I did promise you that I would try not to get you shot tonight."
Tank understood the implication. "So you did like it!"
"I told you, you're not bad, but you're not Ranger."
