A/N: Thanks to stephfan6511 and bgrgrmpy for helping with the ideas in this chapter! It's a longer one, so hopefully that makes the Babes happy! Thanks for reading and reviewing!

Chapter 10

Ranger's POV

I stepped out of the RangeMan jet, nodded at the pilot, and climbed into the Turbo. I was glad to finally get back to Trenton. All night long, I had had the feeling that something was wrong, off, somehow. At first I assumed that I was being overly cautious about the takedown. After all, it was a two million dollar bond.

I had looked over the plans for the takedown, and they were solid, exactly what I would have put together. The takedown itself went smoothly, and the skip was currently in custody. But I still couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.

Headed down the freeway, I glanced at my phone. No missed calls. No messages. I pressed Tank's speed dial, and heard his gruff, "Yo!"

I was sure that he had probably been sleeping. It was 0400. But I just couldn't get rid of this suspicion that something was off.

"Report!" I barked.

Tank groaned. "Fuck, man! I was sound asleep! Can't this wait 'til 0800?"

"No." I said coolly.

He blew out a frustrated breath and reported in on what all of the teams had been up to that night. Surveillance shifts, a response to an alarm, monitors. Nothing unusual.

I narrowed my eyes and scrubbed my face with my hands. "No disturbances at all?"

"Not that I'm aware of."

Suddenly, a thought flashed across my brain. Before I could prevent her name from tumbling out of my mouth, I blurted out, "Stephanie?"

Tank was silent on the other end of the line, and my hands clenched the steering wheel. "Well?" I ground out.

He cleared his throat. "You need to call Les."

Instantly I felt my jaw clench. "Why?"

"Call Les." He repeated before hanging up on me.

I stared at the phone in disbelief. I couldn't believe that my second in command had just refused to give me information and then hung up on me!

Irritated, I punched in Les's number. Unlike Tank, Les sounded wide awake.

"Yo."

"Report!" I barked.

He let out a deep breath. "Listen, Cuz, Bobby and I did what we thought was the right thing to do. She's OK now. She hasn't thrown up for over an hour, and I think she's finally asleep."

I pulled the phone away from my ear and stared at it in disbelief. What the fuck had happened? "Start at the beginning." I growled.

Les cleared his throat nervously. "Did you talk to Tank?"

"He told me to call you. I want an update, and I want it now." I answered in a deathly calm voice.

"I asked Steph to eat dinner with me in the break room and then I offered to show her around the gym. I thought maybe she'd be lonely tonight. You know, with you gone."

My hand was squeezing my phone so tightly that I was sure it was going to snap in two. Relaxing my grip a little, I willed my cousin to pick up the fucking pace already. "And?"

"And she agreed. We were down in the gym checking out the circuit training machines and Manny and Hal were sparring." He paused. "It seems like something about that triggered a memory for Steph. She was holding her hands over her head, cowering on the floor, and screaming for everyone to leave her alone. Bobby and I weren't sure what to do…"

My heart clenched. I wished I had been there to hold her and talk soothingly to her. She seemed to relax immediately when I did that, and I was a little jealous at the thought of Bobby or Les calming her in that way. "What did you do?"

He cleared his throat nervously. "I held her leg, and Bobby sedated her." He said softly.

"What?" I roared. "You pinned her to the fucking gym floor and sedated her?" I pressed the accelerator all the way down to the floor, rocketing towards RangeMan.

"We tried talking to her, Ranger. She just kept screaming. And any time that Bobby or I would get close to her to try to touch her, she would move away or swat at us. We didn't know what else to do!"

"You could have called Tia Ella, dumbass! Maybe she wouldn't have been afraid of another woman."

"Shit." Les swore softly. "We didn't even think of that."

I shook my head and nearly took the next corner on two wheels. I tried to relax my jaw, but it was firmly set. "Why was she throwing up?"

"Ummm…"

"Spit it out!" I ordered.

"Bobby thinks she had an allergic reaction to the sedative. She's been throwing up on and off since we gave it to her. But she hasn't been sick for well over an hour now. He thinks it's all out of her system."

I blew out a frustrated breath. "And she's asleep?"

"Well, she hasn't slept well all night. Maybe a half hour at a time, then she wakes up to get sick or because she's having another nightmare."

"How long has she been asleep?"

"Just about five minutes before you called. Listen, Ranger, I'm really sorry. So is Bobby. But we didn't know what else to do. We didn't want to just leave her like that. Bobby even thought that the sedative might help her to get a good night's sleep without the nightmares. Unfortunately it just didn't work out that way."

"Don't apologize to me. You both need to apologize to her." I growled before ending the call.

I understood their frustration and feelings of helplessness. If I were in their situation, I don't know what I would have done either. I was surprised that Stephanie hadn't responded when Lester and Bobby tried soothing her. Was it because her memories were that vivid? Or was it because I wasn't there? That thought startled me. Where had that come from? Was I actually hoping for a woman to want me? To need me?

I shook my head to clear it and rounded the corner onto Haywood. I'd have to examine those thoughts later. Right now, I needed to see what kind of clusterfuck Bobby and Les had left for me.

I parked and sprinted up the stairs to the fourth floor. I was assuming that Steph was in her apartment, although Les hadn't said one way or the other. Sure enough, when I pushed open the stairwell door, I could see Manny and Hal outside her door. They were pacing and looked upset.

Manny ran over to me. "Sorry, Boss! We didn't know that it would upset her to see us like that. We were just having fun, working out a little."

I nodded at them. I wasn't reassuring any of them- Bobby and Lester included- until I knew exactly what had gone on in the gym last night.

"We'll speak about it later." I told them both in a clipped tone.

They lowered their eyes and nodded, heading back to their apartments. I pulled out my master key and unlocked Steph's door. I hurriedly made my way back to the bedroom and found Bobby and Lester sitting on her bed. They were trying to talk to her, but it was as if she couldn't hear them at all. She kept fighting her imaginary demons, rolling on the bed, sobbing, and screaming. Les reached out a hand to her, and she yelped when he lightly touched her arm. They both looked over at me sadly. They didn't say anything, but their expressions screamed, "See?"

I walked over and knelt down by the bed. "Babe!"

She froze and turned towards me, her hands fisted in the sheets. "Ranger?" she rasped.

"Yeah, Babe." I reached out a hand and smoothed her hair off of her forehead. "I'm here."

She started crying in earnest then. I kicked off my boots and took off all of my weapons. Peeling my shirt off over my head, I climbed into bed wearing just my cargos. I pulled her over next to me and rubbed her back gently, whispering to her in Spanish. She clung to me, her sobs fading to hiccups, and then nothing.

Bobby and Lester just shook their heads, their eyes wide in disbelief. I didn't understand it myself. I was just glad that I was able to comfort her. They stood up to walk out of the room, and I motioned to them. Les raised an eyebrow in question.

"We're both off-line until at least 1300 hours. I want to make sure she sleeps, and she has an appointment with Dr. Michaels at 1100 hours."

"Got it." Bobby responded. They both walked out of the bedroom, closing the door behind them.

I looked down at the small woman wrapped in my arms and shook my head. Unbelievable. That was the only word that described this whole situation.

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Stephanie had cuddled into my side, one leg and one arm thrown across me. She had been softly snoring on and off since I crawled into bed with her a little after 0400, but she never had another nightmare.

I trailed my fingers lightly up and down her arm and studied her face. The bruises were slowly fading from the bright purple they had been when she arrived here, and her face was so relaxed while she was sleeping. Sometimes even when she was with me, there was a tenseness, a nervousness about her. Tiny lines around her mouth and eyes showed her distress. But while she was sleeping, her face was free of all of that. She looked so innocent, so sweet.

I wrapped my arms around her and nuzzled her wild curls. Her leg brushed across my groin, and I groaned as my body reacted to her. Willing myself to relax, I rubbed small circles on her back.

"Stephanie!" I said in a low voice.

"Mmmmm!" she moaned, burying her face in my shoulder.

My lips quirked. "It's time to get up, Babe. You have an appointment with Dr. Michaels in an hour."

She pressed her body into mine. "Don't wanna!" she complained.

I chuckled. She sounded like a little kid arguing with their mother about getting up for school. I kissed her forehead. "Come on, Babe. Maybe I can get Ella to make you some waffles."

She tipped her head up just slightly and looked at me with bleary eyes. She pushed her hair out of her face with one hand. "Waffles?" she repeated hopefully.

I smiled. "Yeah, Babe. Waffles. Do you like waffles?"

Her eyes widened as she nodded.

"Then get up and get your shower, and I'll call Ella. You can eat your waffles and then we can head down to your appointment with Dr. Michaels."

She tipped her head, her forehead wrinkled in confusion. "What time is it?"

"1000 hours."

Her nose wrinkled. "Ten hundred hours? What is that? Military time?"

I smirked and kissed her nose. "Yep. 1000 hours is 10:00 am."

She gasped and jumped up. "But I'll have to cancel! I have so much work to do! It's all piled up on my desk." She twisted her hands nervously. "I don't know how I slept this late!"

I rubbed her arms. "I think you had a little help with the sleeping late, Stephanie."

"What do you mean?"

I patted her arm. "Go get showered. We'll talk over breakfast, OK?"

She bit her lip and nodded, jumping out of bed. She grabbed some clothes and headed into the bathroom. Once I heard the shower running, I called Ella. She was more than happy to bring waffles to Stephanie's apartment. I could hear the smile in her voice, and I rolled my eyes. My aunt was playing matchmaker, I could tell.

I peeked in Stephanie's closet, looking for an extra uniform. All of the empty apartments here at RangeMan had extra uniforms in a variety of sizes. It was done intentionally so that the men were covered if they had to stay over unexpectedly. I found several pairs of pants, socks, and a few T-shirts. I found a uniform that would work and waited for Steph to finish her shower. She opened the door dressed in her own uniform, and walked out into the bedroom.

I gently squeezed her arm and walked past her. "OK if I borrow your shower, Babe?"

She nodded. "Of course."

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Ella had been only too happy to deliver waffles. In fact, I'm pretty sure that she was headed to call my mother, her sister, to report in on the number of meals that Stephanie and I had eaten together in the last several days.

Stephanie and I talked about what happened in the gym, and I was surprised that she couldn't remember the incident at all. I repeated the story that Les had told me and promised her that we would figure out exactly what happened some time this afternoon.

After finishing our breakfast, we headed to the second floor for Stephanie's appointment. I was happy to see that Dr. Michaels was ready and waiting for us when we arrived. She greeted us both with a big smile and shook hands with Stephanie. We sat across from her again, making ourselves comfortable on the loveseat.

Dr. Michaels pulled out her journal and looked at the notes she had made from the last session.

"So, Stephanie. How did your homework assignment go?" she asked, smiling.

Stephanie grimaced. "Well, unfortunately, I think I was able to come up with answers to all of your questions."

Dr. Michaels nodded. "Let's start by talking about the nightmares themselves. What sorts of things do you see in them?"

I squeezed Stephanie's hand, and she answered. "They're always different. Sometimes I'm reliving events that actually happened, and sometimes I'm imagining things. But it's always me and Joe. He's always attacking me in some way. A few nights ago I dreamed that he had tied me down on the bed. Another time I dreamed that he was chasing me around the house. I would run and run and run from him, and he was always just a step or two behind me."

Dr. Michaels nodded. "Have you had any night where your dreams seemed worse, Stephanie?"

She chewed on her lip, and her eyes flicked over at me nervously. "Well, last night was pretty bad."

"Did anything stressful happen during the day yesterday that may have caused your dreams to be worse?"

Stephanie nodded. "Ranger was in Boston all day yesterday, so I was already anxious about going to sleep. I just knew that I would have nightmares and not be able to do anything about them. His cousin Lester must have been worried about me. He invited me to join him for dinner and offered to show me around the gym."

"That was nice of him." Dr. Michaels offered.

Stephanie nodded in agreement. "Yes, it was."

"Did something stressful happen during dinner or at the gym?"

Stephanie bit her lip and looked up at me. "Would you mind explaining it, Ranger? It's not that I don't want to; I can't. I really don't remember anything that happened last night."

I nodded and turned to Dr. Michaels to explain when an idea hit me. Turning back to Steph, I asked "Would you like to watch the security footage of what happened last night? I could have one of the guys bring up a laptop and we could watch the camera footage from the gym."

Stephanie nodded, sitting up straighter. "I'd really like to see what happened because I hate not knowing. There's a span of several hours that are just gone- poof! Erased completely from my mind. It's weird to know that everyone else knows what I did except me. And I was the one doing it!"

She looked hesitantly over at Dr. Michaels. "Is it OK if we watch the tape?"

"Absolutely, Stephanie. I think it will be helpful for both of us to watch it. You will be able to see exactly what happened and restore your memory of last night, and I will be able to see your reaction to a stressful situation."

I called down to the control room and asked Binkie to bring a laptop down to our conference room. He got it all set up, and I logged in and accessed the security recordings.

I looked over at Stephanie. "Any idea what time you guys went to gym, Babe?"

She tipped her head and thought about it. "Well, we ate dinner around 5:00, and then we changed into gym clothes and headed down, so maybe 6:00?"

I nodded and cued up the gym surveillance for 1800 hours. Sure enough, I could see Les and Steph near the circuit training machines. It looked as though they had just started the rotation. Les was writing on a clipboard while Steph tried out one of the machines. I selected the camera with the best angle and turned off the footage from the other gym cameras. The audio was turned off for the gym and the gun range. There was so much noise interference that you wouldn't be able to hear anything recorded in those two locations anyhow. I was hoping that it wouldn't make a difference. From what Les had said, we should be able to see what had happened.

We all watched as Stephanie tried out several machines on the circuit. They were moving towards the leg press machine, when Steph jumped and whirled around, looking behind her. You could see panic and fear on her face. Les had his back to her, setting up the machine, and he hadn't noticed her reaction yet. He turned around just in time to see her slump to the ground, cowering, with her arms over her head. Les looked horrified. He glanced around to see what had happened, and his gaze stopped on Manny and Hal who were just barely visible from this angle.

He reached out to her, but she was shaking and moving away from him. Even without the audio, it was clear that she was afraid. Her posture was one of fear and defensiveness. She was trying to protect herself from a perceived threat. Unfortunately, right now, that was Les. He crouched down and tried again to say something to her, but her mouth opened wide in what I'm sure was a bloodcurdling scream. She scooted away, and this time Les didn't try to approach her again.

He ran his hands through his hair and made a call on his cell phone. Seconds later, Bobby came into view on the footage. He tried to approach her with the same results as Les. According to the timer in the bottom right hand corner, she had been inconsolable for about eight minutes. I watched as Bobby said something to Les. Les leaned down and held her leg still while Bobby reached into his bag and pulled out a syringe. He injected her with the needle, and Steph's whole body went limp. Lester carefully picked her up and carried her out the door.

I stopped the feed and looked up at Steph. She had tears silently running down her face as she stared blankly at the frozen picture of Les cradling her gently in his arms.

"Tell me what you're thinking, Stephanie." Dr. Michaels said softly.

She swiped her hand across her face. "Why can't I remember that? It's certainly memorable!"

Dr. Michaels chuckled lightly. "Your mind was protecting itself. It's not uncommon at all for people to lose large chunks of time, especially if the incident they are forgetting is traumatic in some way."

Steph looked at her skeptically. "Really?"

"Really. In fact, I myself have a large chunk of time that I can't remember."

Steph raised her eyebrows at her. "What happened?"

"When I was nineteen, I was driving home from a friend's birthday party. I was headed to babysit my nephews so that my brother and sister-in-law could go out for the evening. On my way to their house, a car crossed the yellow line and hit me head-on. I never lost consciousness, but according to the nurses, my brain was caught in a 'loop.' I kept asking the same three questions over and over again for hours- What happened? Where were my nephews? Were they OK? I was convinced that they had been in the car with me, and I was worried about them."

Stephanie gasped. "Oh no! Were they OK?"

"They weren't with me. I had been on my way to their house, but my brain had gotten kind of scrambled, I guess. I was thinking about them and somehow I thought they were already with me. When they would ask me questions about the accident, I couldn't remember anything. I didn't even remember leaving my friend's house."

"Did you ever get the memory back? Remember what happened?" Steph asked in a low voice.

She shook her head. "Never. There's about 6 hours that I can't account for. And, as you said, it's a very strange feeling to know that there are people who were there and know what you did, what happened, but you don't."

"Doesn't that bother you? That you can't remember, I mean?"

"It used to. I used to try to make myself remember. I even talked to the EMTs and the people who arrived first on the scene to try to piece everything together. But in the end, I decided that maybe it was best if I didn't remember. It was obviously a scary and traumatic event, and maybe my brain had the right idea. Every once in a while I would get a little flash of the incident, but I was never really sure if I was actually remembering what had happened or just what people had told me. And it's possible that I was just making it up. In any case, it's been many, many years, and I've gotten over losing a few hours. There are certainly many other hours that I can't remember either. Hours spent sitting in a boring class for example. I just decided to quit worrying about it."

Steph looked at Dr. Michaels for a long time before squaring her shoulders and nodded in a determined way. "You're right." She agreed. "Thanks for sharing that with me."

Dr. Michaels smiled. "My pleasure, Stephanie. I'm glad that my story was able to help you in some way. Now, how do you feel about what you saw on the tape?"

She glanced over at me before responding. "Embarrassed. I obviously completely overreacted to the situation. And poor Bobby and Les."

I cleared my throat and spoke up. "How do you feel about Bobby sedating you, Babe?"

She chewed on her lip thoughtfully. "I guess I can understand why they did it. I mean, you saw how I was acting. I wouldn't even let them come near me. Poor Les! I almost kicked him right in the face!"

I rubbed her arms. "Would you be afraid to be around Bobby and Les now? Do you still feel that you can trust them after what you saw?"

She turned and looked at me. "Of course. I know why they did it." She gestured at the screen, showing Lester holding her. "And they were both very gentle with me, even afterwards."

Dr. Michaels cleared her throat. "So this incident caused you to have very bad nightmares last night, Stephanie?"

She nodded.

"How much sleep did you end up getting last night?"

She blushed and looked over at me before looking back down at her hands. "I'm not really sure." She admitted softly.

I squeezed her shoulder and answered for her. "Bobby and Les took her back to her apartment when they left the gym. They said that she had an allergic reaction to the shot, so she would sleep for about a half hour and then wake up to throw up or because she was having a bad dream. That went on until about 4:00 this morning."

"What happened at 4:00?" Dr. Michaels questioned.

"I got back from Boston."

She nodded for me to continue.

"I went straight to Steph's apartment when I got back. She was in the middle of a nightmare when I got there. I calmed her down and held her for a while. She went right back to sleep."

"Did she have any nightmares while you were there?"

I shook my head no.

"And you said you got back around 4:00?"

I nodded. "A little after 4:00, yes."

"And how long did Stephanie sleep?"

I smiled and kissed the top of her head. "Until I bribed her with waffles at 10:00."

Dr. Michaels smiled at both of us. "Well, Stephanie, I think we've figured out what makes your nightmares better."

Stephanie looked up at me and blushed. "Yes, but I can't expect Ranger to stay with me every night."

"Would you like to talk about medication?"

Stephanie looked down at her hands. "I hate taking medicine." She said in a low voice. "I even try to avoid taking an aspirin unless I really need it. I just think it's too easy to become dependent on them."

Dr. Michaels tipped her head to the side. "Well, then we're kind of stuck, Stephanie. Without medication you are likely to continue having difficulty sleeping."

I completely understood Stephanie's aversion to the sleeping pills because I felt the same way about unnecessary medication. I grabbed her hands and squeezed them gently. "I'm willing to stay with Stephanie at night for a while. Let's hold off on the medication and see if we're able to figure out something on our own. Sound OK?"

"Let me make a few suggestions then." Dr. Michaels offered.

Stephanie nodded gratefully.

"Try to create a bedtime routine, similar to what parents do with small children. Choose a time for bed and then count back about an hour. Do things that you find calming, relaxing, or soothing in that hour. Take a bath, have a small glass of wine, listen to classical music, read, whatever you like. When it's time for bed, do your nightly routine of washing your face, brushing your teeth, putting on your pajamas, and climbing into bed. Try leaving on a small nightlight if the dark seems to bother you. Some people have found that scents can be comforting as well. Maybe an air freshener or candle in a familiar scent would help."

I listened to Dr. Michaels's suggestions and had to bite back a smile. We already a nighttime routine. Steph would eat dinner with me, relax on the couch with wine and some music or a movie. Then we would get ready for bed. Instead of a candle or a nightlight, she just seemed to need me to relax her.

"Try some of those suggestions, Stephanie, and I'll see you again next week, OK?"

Stephanie nodded and thanked Dr. Michaels again for her help. We set up an appointment for early next week before walking her out to the elevator.

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After Steph's appointment, we both headed down to 5 to get some work done. Because of her appointment, she insisted on staying over an hour later at the end of her shift. It didn't bother me at all if she made up the hour, but I knew that it was important to her. Stephanie had a tremendous work ethic and a lot of pride. She wanted to do her job. She wanted to earn her salary. She didn't want things handed to her. And I could respect that, so I let it go.

When I promised to come and get her at 1800 hours, she tipped her head and wrinkled her nose. I could almost see the gears turning in her head. "6:00 pm, Babe." I had clarified. She just smiled and shook her head.

Glancing at the clock, I saw that it was already 1730. I had meant to call Ella earlier to let her know what time Stephanie would be joining me for dinner. I picked up the phone to give her a call.

"Hola, Carlitos!" my Aunt answered.

"Hola, Tia!" I responded. "Could you please bring dinner for two tonight?"

I could hear the smile in her voice when she answered me. "Will Stephanie be joining you again this evening?"

"Yes." I responded patiently.

"Should I bring her dessert?" she asked.

"That would be nice." I agreed.

"What time?"

I glanced over at the clock. "We'll be headed upstairs in about a half hour. Any time after that would be fine."

She agreed, and I hung up to finish the last few invoices that needed my approval.

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After dinner, Stephanie and I settled into our regular spots on the couch, and she leaned into me.

"So, if I weren't here right now, taking up all of your time, what would you be doing?"

"After dinner you mean?" I clarified.

She nodded.

"Work."

She turned and looked at me, concerned. "Am I keeping you from getting stuff done?"

I smiled and leaned down to kiss her forehead. "No, Babe. It's not that I have to work that much. It's that I choose to."

She tipped her head to the side. "Why do you choose to work so many hours?"

I lifted my shoulders just slightly. "What else would I be doing?"

She looked at me steadily. "Spending time with family? Or friends? Or a girlfriend?"

I shook my head. "I don't keep in touch with most of my family. And everyone I would consider a friend works here."

She bit her lip and nodded. "No girlfriend?" she questioned quietly.

I smiled at her. "Are you applying for the job, Babe?" I teased.

She blushed and looked down. I reached out and tipped her chin back up, looking at her. Without thinking, I leaned in and pressed my lips gently against hers. She responded, and I deepened the kiss, sliding my tongue along the seam of her lips.

Suddenly she gasped and pulled back, her eyes wide, and immediately I regretted what I had done. I grabbed her hands and began apologizing profusely.

"I'm so sorry, Babe! I know it's too soon. I should have waited..." Before I could finish my apology, Stephanie leaned in and pressed her lips against mine, kissing me thoroughly. I was stunned, and it took me a few seconds to realize what she was doing and to respond.

She pulled back and looked down, her cheeks bright red. "I'm so sorry, Ranger! I don't know what came over me! I don't usually throw myself at guys I've just met."

I cupped her face in my hands. "Stop apologizing." I whispered. I leaned in and pressed a gentle kiss against her lips.

She rested her head against my shoulder and looked up at me hesitantly. "So where do we go from here?" she whispered tentatively.

TBC