I had dressed, done my hair and makeup and I was heading back into the living room to say goodbye to Ranger. I heard voices and realized Tank must not be finished talking to him. I don't know why, but when I heard Tank say my name I stopped and listened.
"You said once the doctor cleared her, you'd tell me what Steph said about me at the hospital that made you laugh your ass off. You said something about me not being safe. She's cleared. Now tell me what the hell was so funny." Tank was obviously impatient to hear Ranger's answer. I could understand that. I wanted to know too.
My curiosity was peaked when I thought I heard a smile in Ranger's voice. "She didn't really say anything about you; she thought she was saying it to you."
When Ranger didn't say anything else, I almost walked out and demanded that he go on. It didn't take long, though, for Tank to do it for me.
"Okay, what did she think she was saying to me?"
"You know how she kept waking up and talking to you?"
"Sure, we finally figured out it was because I was with her when she was shot. So?"
"Yeah, well, you were out of the room, and she started talking to you. I tried to tell her it was me and, of course, I called her babe. And she kept saying that you weren't allowed to call her babe, that only 'Ranger's' allowed to call her babe." It was quiet, so I assumed Tank was processing that. I was standing there smiling when I heard Tank speak again.
"That's it? What did she want to talk about?"
Ranger's response held a different tone that I couldn't put a finger on; gentleness and something else I didn't recognize. "None of your business."
Tank laughed and said, "Must have been something good."
"You want to hear the rest of this or not," Ranger asked him.
"I've been bugging the shit out of you about it for two months. Of course, I want to hear the rest."
"I was tired, and I kept forgetting that I was supposed to be you. The last time I called her babe, she threatened to stun you if you did it again." Now there was pure amusement in Ranger's voice.
Once again the room got quiet. I had my hand over my mouth so they wouldn't hear me snickering.
And then I heard Tank speak again, sounding incredulous. "She threatened to --"
"Stun you. She said, 'Tank, if you ever call me babe again, I'll stun you." Ranger started laughing out loud now. I peeked my head around the corner. Both Ranger and Tank were in the kitchen leaning back against the counter on opposite sides of the small room, giving me a good look at their profiles.
"She didn't really mean it. Steph wouldn't really stun me." Tank paused. "Would she?"
"I don't know. You tell me. You're the one who's embarrassed Hal by playing the tape of her stunning him over and over for everyone to see." Now I had one hand over my mouth and the other holding my stomach trying to hold in the laughter. I knew that everyone had seen me stun Hal on the security camera when he tried to stop me from leaving the building once, but I didn't know Tank actually had it on tape.
"Do you think she remembers," I heard Tank ask Ranger.
"No," Ranger responded. "If she did, I think she would have mentioned it by now."
Tank looked like he was thinking about this for a minute and then he broke into a smile.
"This is going to be fun. How come you wouldn't tell me about this until the doctor cleared her?"
"I figured you'd torture her with it when you found out, and I thought it was only fair for her to be on her feet when you did." I watched as Ranger took a drink of his coffee.
"Look at you. Big Bad Ranger being all protective of the little woman. She's turning you into a real honest to goodness boyfriend." Tank laughed as he stressed the boy part of boyfriend.
I watched Ranger look at him with one eyebrow raised. "You want me to kick your ass this morning?"
Tank didn't look too worried by the possibility. "Looking out for her feelings; sending the guys out for doughnuts." I watched as Ranger set his coffee down on the counter and turned slowly toward Tank.
Tank started laughing and headed for the door. "And yesterday I caught you whistling while you were working in your office."
"Fuck you, Tank."
"Show tunes." Tank yelled.
"Sideways." Ranger yelled back. I could hear Tank's laughter as the door closed behind him.
Ranger walked around the corner and looked down to where I had slid to the floor laughing and holding my stomach. He leaned down, grabbed me by the front of my shirt and lifted me to my feet.
"Show tunes?" I was still laughing.
"How much did you hear," Ranger asked.
"All of it." I said smiling at him. I walked directly to the living room and grabbed my purse. I was still smiling as I started taking things out and began rummaging through it. Suddenly a hand came into my field of vision, and Ranger's stun gun was in front of my face. I looked up at him.
Ranger gave me the 200-watt smile. "Fully charged."
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Ranger had hurried into the bedroom, dressed and headed out the door. He gave me one soul-burning kiss before leaving. I wasn't sure why, but he asked me to give him a few minutes head start before I came down to the comp area on the fifth floor.
I took a grape and a carrot out of the fridge, dropped them in the cage for Rex, and watched as he grabbed the grape and scurried back into his can. I then grabbed my purse and tucked Ranger's stun gun in the small of my back, tucked into my jeans, and headed down to the fifth floor with a smile on my face. This was going to be fun.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
When I stepped off the elevator I saw Ranger leaning against the bank of monitors next to Hal with a cup of coffee in his hand. He was listening to something Hal was saying to him. I watched him for just a second, amazed at how my heart picked up speed thinking about the night we'd spent together and the way we'd started the morning. Without warning Ranger's eyes shot to mine and held them. The message his eyes sent me told me he was thinking about the morning too.
Ranger said something to Hal. I watched as Hal gave Ranger a puzzled look then reached up and hit a button on the control panel in front of him.
Ranger crooked his finger at me in a come here gesture. As I started walking toward him, Tank came out off the office and started down the hall. I looked over at him and then back at Ranger. Ranger gave me his almost smile, but his eyes were laughing as he silently saluted me with his coffee cup before taking a sip.
I waited until Tank was in the middle of the comp room floor before I approached him so everyone could watch the show.
"Hey, Tank." I gave him an innocent smile.
"Hey, ah --" He paused and looked over at Ranger and smiled, "-- Steph. What's up?"
"Not much. Just wanted to check in to see if you had any assignments for me. Ranger said I should check with you since you've been running things all morning." I told the lie hoping Ranger would back me up.
Tank looked over at Ranger, and Ranger just lifted his eyebrows slightly.
"Sure, ah, Steph. We've got a repeat skip if you want to ride along with Lester. He's due on the clock in about ten minutes. He's already got the paperwork, so you can meet him down in the parking garage if you want." I noticed how Tank kept hesitating when he said my name, and I was frantically trying to figure out a way to get him to call me babe when I suddenly had an idea.
I walked up to Tank's left side and put my arm around his broad back, giving him a pat on his right shoulder.
"Thanks, big guy." I said and smiled up at him. I pretended to start to turn and walk away and got my wish.
Tank shot Ranger a wide smile. "No problem, Babe."
Reaching behind my back as I shifted away from Tank, I glanced at Ranger. He was watching Tank and me closely.
"By the way, Tank, just one more thing," I said sweetly.
"What's that, Babe?" He choked out on a laugh as he started to turn and look at me.
"Oh, just this," I answered as I put the stun gun to his muscled bicep and hit the button.
Having no chance to react, Tank made a noise that sounded suspiciously like "EEEEEK" and went down like a ton of bricks.
I leaned down and said, "I told you if you ever called me babe again I'd stun you. Guess you forgot."
The entire room froze until Hal started laughing. "He went EEK. Tank EEKED."
Within seconds every man on the fifth floor of Rangeman was laughing so hard they couldn't stand upright. Some had sat down to keep from falling over and others, like Ranger, were doubled over with laughter. Junior had slid down the wall next to him overcome with laughter much like I had been earlier upstairs.
Smiling, I walked over to Ranger. I leaned down even with his face where he was still doubled over, roaring with laughter, and kissed his cheek.
With no more than a "See ya later, honey," to Ranger, I calmly turned and walked out the door, taking the steps to the parking garage to wait for Lester.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
After helping Lester deliver his man to the police department, I went back to Rangeman with him. Not wanting to run into Tank just yet, I called Ranger and asked him to meet me in the garage and drop me at my mom's house where Lula was going to pick me up.
When he walked down to the garage, he strolled over to me and captured my mouth with his. Once inside the Porsche he started telling me about everyone's reactions to my stunning Tank. By the time we got to my mother's house we were both breathless from laughter.