Forgotten
SapphireJ
Chapter 11
Forgotten Friday! Thank you for all the reviews. I'm glad you are enjoying the story (some for the first time, some for the second). Let me know what you think of the chapter! Have a wonderful weekend and I'll be back on Monday with the next chapter of Manny Reasons ;)
Stephanie turned her phone back on and decided to grab a snack. When she finished her peanut butter and olive sandwich, her phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Hey sweetie"
"Hi Mare, what's up?"
"Listen, I need to cancel tonight. Lenny isn't home and two of the boys are sick. I don't feel right sending them to a sitter."
"It's okay. I understand. I hope they feel better soon."
"Steph, are you okay?"
"Yeah, Mare. I'm fine. Just a lot on my mind right now."
"Okay, well, we'll do this next week sometime, okay?"
"Sure. Give the boys my love."
"Will do sweetie. Love ya."
"Love you too, Mare."
Stephanie hung up the phone and looked around her apartment. Nothing here to do, might as well head into the office.
Stephanie hopped on her Ducati and drove to the office. Once she got up to five, she stopped in at the monitors and said hi to Hal and Vince. Making her way to her cubicle, she saw her inbox was full. Stephanie sat down to start on her searches. After an hour, she stood up to stretch and saw Manny heading her way.
"Hey Wifey, when did you get in?"
"Hey, I got in about an hour ago. I was going to look for you, but decided to get started on the searches."
"Do you need help getting your stuff back to your place?"
"No, I'm going to leave the Duc parked here tonight and I'll take my Corolla home with my stuff. Thanks for the offer though."
"I know you were only there for two nights, but I'm going to miss having you there." Manny leaned in close to Stephanie so no one else would hear. "If you ever want to sleep in my bed again, it is yours, but I won't be sleeping on the couch."
Stephanie stepped back a little. "Manny, you and I need to have a serious talk and soon."
"How about tonight at dinner?"
"No, I need to talk to Ranger. He asked about dinner, but I had told him no because I had plans with Mare, but she cancelled. I want to see if he is still available for dinner. But, you and I need to talk. How about lunch tomorrow?"
"Sure thing. Let me know when you are ready to leave and I'll help you carry stuff down."
"Thanks Manny," Steph said as she gave him a hug.
Stephanie started the next search and decided to call Ranger about dinner. She got his voicemail and debated on leaving a message.
"Ranger, there's been a change in my dinner plans, so if the offer is still open, can we meet and talk tonight? Let me know."
A few hours later, all the searches were done and Stephanie took off to deliver the results.
"Hey Lester, here's the results from your search. I highlighted the important stuff for you."
Lester smiled up at her, "Thanks beautiful. Hey, the guys and I are doing movie night again tonight, you in?"
"Not sure. I'm waiting on someone to call me back about tonight."
"Okay, well, movie is in Bobby's place, just show up if you want."
"Thanks. I'll let you know later."
She walked to Tank's office next. She knocked on the door and waited.
"Come in."
"Hey big guy, here's your search results."
"Thanks Bombshell, I appreciate it."
Two people down, one more to go. I wonder if he is back yet. She headed to Ranger's office and noticed the door was ajar.
She knocked and waited. No answer. She stuck her head in and looked around. Empty.
Sitting the files on the desk, she turned to leave when the hairs on her neck stood up. Great.
She turned around and Ranger was in the doorway. She looked at him and smiled. "I was just dropping off your search results. I think you might be able to go pick up the top one tonight at his girlfriend's house."
"Thanks, Babe. I just got your message. Are you still free tonight?"
"Yes."
"Where would you like dinner? Seven or out?"
"I think for our talk, we should probably be alone, so seven."
"Ok. How about we head up there around 5?"
"Sounds good. Gives me two more hours to get some more searches done and to get my stuff from Manny's place."
"Do you need help getting that back to your place? I noticed the bike is downstairs."
"Oh, no. I'm leaving the bike for the night and taking my corolla home."
"Ok, I'll see you upstairs around 5. Anything special you'd like Ella to make?"
"No, I love all she makes, so it doesn't matter."
Stephanie smiled at Ranger and then turned to leave. When she reached the door, she heard Ranger's voice.
"And Steph, it will still be a total open and honest talk."
Stephanie walked out of the office and went back to her cubicle. Lester was there waiting for her.
"Hey Les."
"Beautiful. Thought anymore about the movie's tonight?"
"Yeah, I'm going to have to pass."
"You're killing me. You've been to all the other movie nights, who am I going to hide behind when it gets scary?" Lester stuck out his bottom lip and Stephanie had to fight the urge to laugh.
"Tell you what, I'll ask Tank to sit next to you so you can hide behind him when you are scared."
"Won't work. No one will let me hide behind them except you."
"Well, then I guess you have to tell them no scary movies tonight. I won't be there, seriously."
"Okay. Well, I hope you have a good time where you are going to be."
"Don't count on it, but thanks. Now, I need to get these done before I leave, so if you'll excuse me."
"Ok. I'll see ya later then." Lester kissed Stephanie's forehead and walked away mumbling about not having anyone to hide behind and Steph taking away all his fun. He was still mumbling when Bobby walked up behind him and smacked him upside the head.
"Ow, what the hell was that for?"
"Just because."
Ranger headed upstairs around 4:30 so he could grab a quick shower. He got out and put on a pair of tight fitting blue jeans and a navy blue short sleeve shirt. Just as he got his shirt on, he heard a knock at the door.
Stephanie was a little nervous. It had been a long time since she had been in this apartment. She knocked and waited for Ranger to answer.
When Ranger opened the door, Stephanie started staring at him. My God, I forgot how he looked dressed in jeans. Damn, those jeans look like he was poured into them. Yum!
Ranger chuckled. "Babe."
"What?"
"Come in, please." Ranger got out of the way and let Stephanie pass by him. He shut the door and followed her to the living room. "Can I get you anything to drink? Ella will be up with food around 6."
"Water would be good."
Ranger nodded and took off for the kitchen. Stephanie sat down on one end of the couch and waited for his return.
Ranger handed a water to Stephanie and reached for his phone. He hit a button on his phone and waited. "Yo…I'm offline until further notice…no." He turned his phone off and sat it down on the table.
Stephanie followed suit and turned her phone off and placed it next to his.
Ranger sat down on the other side of the couch and looked at Stephanie. "I believe you were about to tell me what you meant about not hiding your feelings from anyone anymore."
"Oh. That," she replied as she twisted her hands together.
"You were about to explain and I'd like you to continue."
Stephanie took a deep breath and knew she had to do this. It was part of her growing up that she promised herself she'd do. "Ranger. I've done a lot of thinking in the past few months. I want to tell you all that has happened, but I need you to just listen for now and not interrupt me. Can you do that?"
Ranger nodded his head and waited for her to continue.
"When I asked you to stop with the kisses, I didn't want you to leave my life. I know I never came out and asked for you to stay, but I didn't think needed to. When you left, I thought you were on a government mission. I asked the guys every day for a month if they had heard anything from you."
Stephanie looked at Ranger and kept going.
"Every day, I was told the same thing. "Bombshell, he's fine. Don't worry. If we hear any bad news, we'll tell you." Well, that wasn't exactly what I was looking for. I was looking for any news on you. Finally, I stopped asking. No one ever told me anything, so why ask? Like I told you earlier, Joe left shortly after you. He was gone for five weeks. When he returned, things were different. I thought maybe it was because I had gotten the training, but I know differently now. What I meant when I said that I'm not going to hide my feelings anymore is this. I loved Joe. I honestly thought he and I could make it work. He told me he accepted my job and was fine with it. But things changed over the months and I knew that while I loved him, I wasn't in love with him."
Stephanie stared at Ranger. He waited for her to continue, but she didn't.
"Babe, who are you in love with?"
"You. But I know that you don't love me. At least not fully. You love me in your own way. I know your life doesn't lend itself to a relationship, so I'm not asking you for anything. I just wanted to be honest with you for once. I'm tired of denying my feelings. Maybe now that you know, it won't hurt as much when you walk away. At least I've had the chance to tell you the truth."
Ranger watched as the tears started to fall down her face. There was a knock at the door. Ranger went to get the door and Stephanie walked to the bathroom.
When she returned, the food was set out on the table and Range was standing up against the back of the couch waiting. They ate in silence as each thought about what was just said. When they were done eating, they took their dishes to the kitchen, rinsed them, and left them in the sink.
Once they were seated back on the couch, Ranger decided it was his turn to speak.
"Stephanie, I know I've told you a lot of shit in the past. A lot of it, I meant when it was said, but things change over the years. When I told you my life didn't lend itself to relationships, I was still property of the government. I'm not anymore. My contract ended two months ago."
"When I told you I loved you in my own way; I meant it. I love you the only way I know how to love a woman." Ranger took a deep breath. He reached up and turned Stephanie's face so she was looking at him. "I love you with my whole heart."
He watched as the emotions went flying across her face. Confusion, love, hurt, joy, regret?
"Ranger, I…"
"Shh, let me finish, please." She nodded, so he continued. "I left because I knew that being around you every day and not being able to touch you was going to slowly kill me. I sent you back to Morelli after our night together because I didn't want you to get so close and then I leave on assignment. I never knew if I'd be coming back from them or not. The last few were nothing but suicide missions. Hell, the government didn't expect me to come back. I knew if I stayed here, that I wouldn't be allowing you and the cop a fair shot at making it. I know I should have told you I was leaving, but I couldn't. I know you would have asked me to stay and I would have. I didn't call you because I didn't want to hear the happiness in your voice if things worked out and yet I didn't want to hear the sadness if things didn't work."
"Stephanie. Babe. You said things are over with you and Joe. Is that true?" She nodded, not able to talk yet. "I'd like to give us a chance and see what happens. Are you willing?"
She stared at him for what seemed like eternity. "Ranger. I…I'm not sure I can."
"Why?"
"I just ended things with Joe. I need a little time to get my head on straight and take care of some things."
"Anything you care to share or that I can help you with?"
"I'm not sure about the help, but I will tell you what is going on."
"I'd like that." Ranger reached over and tucked a curl behind her ear. His fingers lingered on her jaw. He pulled back as he fought the urge to kiss her. He knew this wasn't the time; he didn't want to rush things and ruin any chance.
"Tell me, please."
"Okay. Let me get my purse first."
Stephanie grabbed her purse and settled back on the couch; she was ready to tell Ranger about the pictures and Joe's cheating. Maybe he could help her find out who was sending the pictures.
