JE owns these amazing characters. I just wish they were also meteorologists so they could forecast this winter out of here!

Chapter 9

The drive back to Rangeman was made in silence. Stephanie was deep in thought and shook herself to bring herself back to the present. The Escape pulled in behind them down the ramp into the garage.

Stephanie climbed out of the Turbo. She turned to Ranger and spoke.

"If there is an open apartment on four, I would prefer to stay there, Ranger. I don't want to cramp your style. Rex is not the complaining type and I don't need much."

Ranger schooled his feelings.

"There will be one available in a couple of days if you want. Woody found a new place and he and his girlfriend are moving in after his shift ends tomorrow. Until then, I guess you are stuck on seven with me."

It was made as a joke, but he could see right away that she had taken it the wrong way.

Stephanie was trying to keep her face blank. She didn't want to be underfoot in any way. She nodded in surrender.

Manny and Zero dropped the boxes and Rex at the front door on seven and headed downstairs.

They could already see that this was not going to be a match made in heaven. Unfortunately, she did not want to be there. Well, those two would have to work it out.

Stephanie had lost her spark that made her who she was. She was making all the right moves but there was something missing.

She walked out of the bedroom dressed in her Rangeman uniform. Ranger was in the kitchen. She headed for the door but Ranger called to her. She stopped and turned with a questioning look.

"I asked Ella to have supper here for 1800, Babe."

Stephanie nodded that she heard.

"I need to check with Tank and get my schedule set up. If I'm off, I will be here. I don't want to put you to any trouble keeping the food warm."

She headed for the door and walked out, closing it softly.

Ranger walked into the bedroom. She had put the boxes in the back of the closet, and he noticed that the hangers still hung empty. He looked in the drawers left for her use and noticed that they were also empty. The clothes she had worn were neatly folded on top of one of the boxes. He hoped it was because she thought her current living situation was only temporary.

~~~o0o~~~

The meeting convened once again.

"Report", came the command.

The man spoke up.

"It appears that she has moved or been moved from her apartment. She had two boxes and an aquarium. I would say that it is not a happy situation from the look on her face, but I could be wrong."

There was silence. Then.

"She has a flight mentality. Keep an eye out. If she escaped once, she might again."

There was a rustling of papers.

"Now, to the business at hand. Business is up. The clients are happy. It's time to ramp up."

There was an excited murmur.

~~~o0o~~~

Stephanie stopped at Tank's door. She knocked softly and waited for permission to enter. Tank's voice boomed 'Enter' and dutifully Stephanie turned the knob and opened the door. She walked in and stood in front of his desk.

He was sitting behind piles of paper which were threatening to slide together into one big heap on the desk. It was a depressing sight.

Tank put down his pen. He looked at Stephanie and mentally shook his head. She straight up didn't look like her usual self. He considered his next words carefully.

"What's the plan, Little One?"

She shrugged her shoulders only confirming his suspicions.

"I'm here to find out my schedule, Tank. I can start now if you want."

He looked down. There were a multitude of places he could put her, but he wanted to and felt the need to keep an eye on her.

"I know your typing speed is good and you are very careful. If I get you a desk closer to me, you can work on some of these reports and finish them so that we can file them away."

She shrugged her shoulders. At least it was not monitors. She hated monitors, but right now beggars cannot be choosers. She had a debt to pay back and she figured it would be a big one after her last caper.

Tank stood up and taking her by the elbow with one hand, and holding a handful of folders in the other, guided her out the door to a cubicle near to his and Ranger's office. Stephanie tried not to squirm out of his hold.

She looked at him but didn't comment. It appeared that she had even lost her cubicle in with the men and Tank wanted to keep an eye on her.

"You have done these before. If you have any questions, my door is open."

He patted her shoulder and strode away.

She sighed and sat down.

Stephanie pulled the first file to her and began to work.

Eighteen hundred arrived and Ranger heard Stephanie step into the apartment. He called out that he was in the kitchen.

She walked into the kitchen and sat down on a stool.

Ranger tried to make conversation.

"Tank told me that you were helping to get his desk in order. He's a big boy and should be prepared to clean up his own mess."

He said it in a joking manner, but Stephanie cringed. Now she had gotten Tank in trouble.

Ranger tried again.

"I could hear the guys talking in the break room about you decorating last year for St. Patrick's Day and asking Ella to serve green Koolaid. They wanted to know if she would make them green sugar cookies too this year."

Stephanie looked down. It was another one of her favorite holidays and she had enjoyed picking up and decorating with the streamers. Unfortunately, being broke and locked in the building she would be unable to buy anything this year. She shrugged in indifference.

Ranger was serving up supper and put her plate in front of her. As usual, Ella had made something delicious, which should have triggered Stephanie's taste buds in anticipation.

She looked at the plate full of food. Ella had prepared it and Stephanie knew that it would probably be delicious, but the thought of food right now was not very appealing. Dutifully she picked up her fork and played in the vegetables. She took a few bites and pushed it aside. She was not hungry.

She looked at Ranger.

"I'd really like to take a shower, if that's OK with you. I feel a bit grubby."

She waited for what looked like permission.

Ranger nodded and she stood up and walked out of the room. He could hear her rummaging around in the closet and then the bathroom door closed softly.

Dios, what a clusterfuck! She had barely touched her meal and hadn't even noticed that Ella had provided dessert for her.

Ranger cleared off the table and walked into the living room. He had heard the shower turn off. Mentally he had kept time on his watch. Stephanie loved his shower, but had barely spent any time in it, almost as if she was conserving water.

He looked at the tv and pondered his next move. He strode over to the wall with all the DVD's in it and pulled out a brand new copy of Ghostbusters. He laid it on the coffee table and waited.

Stephanie walked out in a pair of yoga pants and a stretchy t-shirt. Her hair was only damp which meant that she had not taken the time to wash it. It was still tied back with a scrunchie.

He noticed from his chair that she hesitated before coming into the living room. His first thought was to pretend that he had a call downstairs and leave her alone, but his other thought was that he should be there. He couldn't put his finger on it. She seemed so off.

He had had soldiers head into depression from everything from a Dear John letter to a sudden death in the family. He had always made sure that his man had not been alone to wallow in their sorrow, and he felt that although there might not be any conversation, he would be there if she wanted to talk.

Unfortunately, at that moment, his phone rang in his pocket.

Ranger grimaced. Bad timing.

He opened the phone and barked, "Report", which made Stephanie jump. How many times had he answered his phone with her near. Never had she reacted that way before.

Ranger listened then hung up. He looked at Stephanie. She had taken a seat on the couch, and was curled up in the corner, almost in defense mode. Her arms were holding her knees close to her. This was not a good time to get that call.

"Babe, we just got an alarm at a client's business and I have to go. I can call Ella and she can come up and hang out with you."

Stephanie shook her head no. This was Ella's busy time, in the evening. She would be preparing for the evening shift to have supper. She didn't want to have her drop everything. Besides, what would they do? She didn't feel like doing anything right now. It had been a tiring day.

"Ella's busy right now, Ranger. I would never want to take her away. If it's OK, I'll just sit here. I had a long day and my back hurts."

Ranger stood up. He walked over to the couch. He could almost see Stephanie crouch down even lower, wondering what he was going to do. He leaned down and gave her a gentle kiss in her hair.

"I can call Bobby and he can bring you up something." He had his phone out watching her reaction.

Stephanie shook her head no. "No, don't bother him. It will probably go away pretty soon."

His next thought was to take her with him and she could stay in one of the vehicles. Unfortunately, that took her out of the safety of Rangeman and he dismissed the idea. He would check out the scene and leave Tank in charge to finish up. He could hop a ride back in one of the other vehicles. Ranger wanted to be back in less than an hour.

He headed to the hall, put on his boots, picked up his keys and walked out the door. Ranger thought about calling Bobby, but he was still at the hospital with Les He hoped to be back soon.

Stephanie pulled the gaily decorated quilt from the back of the couch and covered herself up. The movie lay untouched on the coffee table.

Ranger let himself into his apartment. It was late. Unfortunately, the punk kids who had broken in had done considerable damage in the short time they had been inside before Rangeman had shown up. They had taken baseball bats to the glass counters, smashing with almost reckless abandon.

By the time the police had left with their captures, and the owner had arranged for a clean-up crew to arrive, it was now almost midnight.

Tank had had to leave to head to another alarm, leaving Ranger without his vehicle. It had turned out to be a false alarm as the owner had not pressed in the right code, but by the time he had gone and come back, considerable time had passed.

Tank and Ranger had spoken on the way back to Haywood.

"How's Little Girl?" Tank cut right to the chase.

He had observed her through his open door working diligently. She had put through an amazing amount of work in a short period of time, stopping only for one washroom break and a quick trip for a bottle of water. No food, no granola bar, no fruit. Just water.

He too had observed how loose her clothing was sitting on her tiny frame. Ella had carefully outfitted Stephanie with her uniforms and they now hung on her. He surmised that since she had probably not eaten well, or possibly not much at all for a number of days prior to whatever she had consumed at Rangeman that her stomach would have issues with a lot of food for awhile.

Unfortunately it was her spirit, and her drive, and her enthusiasm. The men had stopped by to chat, but she had only a few words for each. Polite, but withdrawn. The men had taken the hint and had left her alone.

Ranger sighed, which surprised them both. Ranger never sighed.

He too had noticed her working in the office. He had originally thought that by putting Stephanie close to their offices they would save her making the trip so that she could walk back and forth to the offices to save time. He had not thought that she might take it the wrong way.

He wondered if she was watching Ghostbusters, her all time favorite go-to movie. She watched it when she was happy, when she was heartbroken at another breakup with Morelli, or even when she was trying to be brave. Ranger so very much hoped that the plastic would be off the movie when he came back.

He didn't even want to consider that she might fore go his bed with the 1000 count sheets as she liked to think of them. Damn, there had been a quilt on the back of the couch. If she was feeling the way he suspected, she would probably just pull it over her and curl up.

Should he move her to his bed when he returned? Her back would complain being scrunched up all night unable to stretch out?

Ranger pulled out his phone. He pressed the number for Bobby and it was answered in one ring.

"Did Stephanie phone you for some pain relief? She mentioned that her back was bothering her tonight. No, we are heading back and I will let you know if she needs something."

Ranger hung up and tapped the phone softly against his chin in thought.

Tank sighed. Hey, what was going on here? Neither of them usually sighed. Yeah, they were both worried about the same thing.