Disclaimer: Nope, nope, and when hell freezes over! This chapter will contain smut, but hopefully you'll find it more romantic than anything else. Just in case, I have marked it for those of you who wish to skip it. Huge, monstrous and undying thanks to Angie and Kym, for without them this would never had made it past the first chapter. I sincerely hope you enjoyed it. This is for Das & Xy's Wisdom challenge on Babe Squad.

Another Day, Another Disaster – Epilogue

Now, as he lay in bed next to his love, for the first time in years he looked forward to what life had in store for them next. Together.

The room was bathed in light and the sun was well into the sky when Steph finally drifted awake, the tingling she felt all over cluing her in that Ric was in the vicinity, and judging from the warmth certain parts of her body was experiencing, he was watching her. She opened her eyes to find him still in bed with her, studying her face as she slept. Yep, my Rangdar was definitely working this morning, she thought. She smiled sleepily at him, stretching her limbs languidly and without hesitation. It felt so good to be able to move again without the pain or dizziness threatening to lay her out for the count.

"'Morning, Ric." She smiled happily as she leaned up and brushed her lips across his.

He smiled at her as he returned the kiss. "'Morning, Babe. How're you feeling?" he brushed back a wisp of hair that was just starting to curl and frowned. He missed her wild curls…

Her face clouded as she realized what he was thinking. "I'm sorry about my hair. I can get a wig to wear until it grows out some more." Her voice broke as she mentioned the wig, and she blinked rapidly to keep the tears from falling.

He shook his head. "No Babe, it's not your fault, and your hair is just fine. Yeah, I miss all your curls, but I'd miss you even more if they hadn't cut them off to save you." He brushed his thumbs across her cheek to catch a tear that had escaped. "Your hair will grow back, but I can't replace you."

Her smile was wobbly as she looked into his eyes. "I love you so much, Ric."

His smile lit up his face. "And I love you too, Stephanie. More and more every day. Don't ever doubt that." He said, his voice mirroring the seriousness of his words.

The lines of sadness on her face smoothed out and this time her smile was brilliant. "I just can't believe that we're here, and we're together, and that you really love me. It's like a dream come true. I don't want this to end!"

Ranger's expression softened, the love he was feeling clearly evident in his eyes. "It won't, and as long as I live, I'll never stop loving you, Stephanie. Ever." He picked up her hand and placed it on his chest. "You have my heart, Stephanie, and I have yours. As long as we hold each other's hearts, and protect them, keep them close, we'll never end. That's a promise."

At his words, the last of her doubts disappeared. Ranger never promised anything he couldn't deliver; it was a bona fide guarantee that she'd never lose his love, and she knew without a doubt that she'd never stop loving him as well.

Ranger's breath caught at the amount of emotion he felt as he gazed at her. Stephanie. His woman. She was his light, his hope, and his life. He couldn't remember ever feeling so much for someone. Even Abuela Rosa. His grandmother may have saved his life so many years ago; getting him out of the gangs and steering him towards a more productive life, but Stephanie, his Babe - she saved his soul. A soul he'd thought was damned forever.

Of all the things he'd accumulated in the past few years, of all the possessions he'd surrounded himself with, her love was the ultimate prize. Before he met her, he'd been feeling smothered, and in just a few days he would have been gone, or so he'd thought. One night shortly before that fateful phone call, he'd been sitting in his apartment drinking a beer with his friend and right hand man Tank. That was when he'd told him he was leaving Trenton, that he couldn't stay there anymore surrounded by everything that reminded him of what his family didn't have when he was growing up. Tank had thought he was crazy to give everything up that he had worked so hard to accumulate. He remembered his reply "I've learned that the more possessions I acquire, the less free I feel." And then Connie called.

He was brought out of his reverie by the soft touch of her lips to his jaw as they whispered across his skin, slowly making their way to the hollow spot below his ear where her tongue snaked out, tracing its way up and around his ear. He shivered at the contact, reliving that night so long ago that had haunted his dreams and fueled his desire for a 'Someday'. The true beginning of his life.

*****************smut*****************

With a groan he rolled them both until she was under him, soft and pliant. Using his powerful arms to keep his weight off of her, he hovered over her close enough to feel his heat but not touching her with his body, then he swooped in and took possession of her lips, tracing the moist curves with his tongue before plunging inside to taste her. He stroked his tongue lazily around the inside of her mouth, teasing and playing with her until she moaned impatiently.

He smiled tenderly as he withdrew his tongue; his lips 'walking' their way over her chin and continuing down her throat to the hollow of her collarbone. He stopped to suckle, drawing the skin gently into his mouth as his teeth scraped across the bone. Another moan emitted from deep within her, her body starting to squirm as she became more and more aroused, the wetness seeping out of her and trickling down to the bed.

"Ric…" she bit out desperately, wanting nothing more than to feel his weight on her and something much harder inside her. It had been so long…

"Patience, Querida. This time it's all about love. Trust me…" he whispered against her skin, making her shiver with anticipation at the intensity of his words. His mouth finally lifted from her collarbone and continued its journey down her chest, slowing its progress when his lips reached the swell of her breast. He slowly began to trace his tongue around the heaving orb, her breath coming in gasps as he stopped to take tiny nips at the skin surrounding the aureole. He carefully avoided the center of her luscious globe, opting instead to taste every millimeter of skin in the vicinity that lay under his searching lips, and leaving her nipples hard and aching to be touched.

She began to pant faster, bringing her hands up to his face to move his mouth closer to where she wanted him, then whimpering when he caught them and held them down against either side of her head and entwined their fingers together to better secure his hold. He moved his lips across her cleavage, stopping to give it a lick before continuing on to her other breast, giving it the same treatment as he had the first one.

Suddenly his mouth latched onto her nipple, causing her to cry out in ecstasy as she fell over the edge, her body convulsing in spasms. Her grip on his hands was so fierce it had turned her knuckles white; she thought she was gonna die from the exquisite pleasure of his mouth on her, his hands keeping her own from touching him like she so desperately needed to. To caress his chest, his shoulders; to run her hands down his body further and further until…

Her body was still shuddering when his mouth left her breasts, and she almost screamed until she registered that he was heading south. He lifted up just enough to allow her to bend her knees, working his way between her thighs as he ever so slowly licked his way down before pausing at her belly button, swirling his tongue around and around. He'd moved their hands down as he progressed lower, keeping hers imprisoned even as he detoured to first one hip, then the other, giving the skin little nips before laving the area with his tongue.

"Oh god Ric, please…" she nearly burst into tears when his mouth move closer to her center, then veered off to lick and nip at the sensitive skin of her inner thighs. She tugged at her hands, trying to free them only to have them trapped even more securely within his grasp as he lovingly placed kisses all over her thighs before nuzzling her mound, eliciting a moan of frustration that coincided with his groan of arousal at her scent.

Almost before she realized it, he'd wrapped his arms around her thighs and parted her outer lips with his fingers, dipping his tongue inside to taste. With her hands suddenly freed, she buried them in his hair, earning her a pleased moan that vibrated against her opening and causing her to shudder as another orgasm wracked her body. He pulled his tongue out, replacing it with a finger as his mouth mover over the sensitive bundle of nerves and began to suckle, prolonging the orgasm until she thought she'd die from the pleasure.

When she finally floated back to earth, he pulled his mouth away and, along with his fingers, traveled back up the length of her body until his lips reached hers, taking possession of them hungrily as he settled his hips between her thighs. She could taste herself as he plundered her mouth, his arousal hard and pulsating as it nudged against her center, another moan rumbling through them both at the intensity of the emotions they both felt at the intimate contact.

The kiss seemingly went on forever, and when he finally lifted his head slightly, his lips barely brushed against hers as he whispered, his voice ragged and scratchy. "Te amo, Stephanie. Tu eres mi corazon por todo el tiempo."* With that said, he slowly slid inside her warmth, Stephanie crying out in pleasure and he felt his breath catch as her body closed around him. The sensation was almost overpowering, and as they glided together in perfect synchronicity, a lump rose in his throat that nearly choked him. This intimacy, this tenderness; he'd never felt these emotions before when he was with a woman, and even though he'd felt something close to it that night so long ago, the incredible rightness of it now overwhelmed him completely.

The pressure was building higher and higher as they moved, lost in each other as they rocketed towards completion. Almost simultaneously they fell over the edge, their shouts of ecstasy echoing around the room before finally the only sound was their labored breathing as they came back down. Stephanie reached up and touched his cheek, her own tear-streaked face reflecting wonder as she touched a tear that had leaked out the corner of his eye.

**************end smut**************

He stared down into the blue depths of her eyes, his own dark gaze suspiciously bright. He seemed to struggle for the right words, finally clearing his throat. "I never knew…I've never really made love with a woman before, Stephanie. I didn't know I could feel so much…" He lowered his head and brushed his lips across hers. "You never disappoint Babe. Never."

More tears slipped down her face as she looked up at him, her own expression so full of love and tenderness he nearly choked. "I've never really made love with a man either, Ric. That was the most beautiful experience I've ever had. I love you."

They both smiled, their lips clinging together lightly as they basked in the aftermath. Satiated and exhausted, they turned together until Ranger was spooning her from behind, his arm snugly wrapped around her waist as she melted into him.

As they drifted off to sleep, Ranger smiled in the dark and knew that they'd made it through another day, and another disaster, together.

The End

*I love you, Stephanie. You have my heart forever.