Back by popular demand...thanks everyone!-Esentrik

She was standing outside, freezing her butt off yet wrapped tightly in a navy blue sweatshirt. She was dressed to kill, and her toes were a shade from blue.

"So..." She started, staring up at the stars the minute Rangers foot his the pavement.

"So, I hear we have a plane to catch." He said sternly.

"Yeah." She lowered her head from the sky above and settled it on Ric's face. "We do."

They stared at each other for a long time. Neither dared to move. Stephanie blinked a few time, and tears filled her eyes. Ranger took a step forward and held out his hand. "For a dead woman, you have a nice set of wheels." He commented quietly.

She smiled alittle and took his hand. He pulled her towards him, and wraped his arms around her chest, holding her back to his body. She looked at the car she had been leaning on. Shiny, black and expensive. A 2004 Ford Cougar, bought with the money she had been saving for the time in her life when she would get a new apartment.

"I'm not going to ask anything." Ranger said and gave her a gentle squeeze.

She nodded softly, and took a deep breath. She unwraped one of her hands, and extracted her keys from the pocket of her jeans. With the gently push of the button, the car's lights blinked on, and you could hear the locks pop.

Ranger kissed her hair, and then freed her from his grasp. Before pulling away completely, she opened his hand and closed it again, over the car keys. "What gate?" He asked.

She handed him the second ticket. Gate 4, departure time 12 o'clock midnight. Ranger glanced at his watch. They had a whole two hours to clear security. And they would need every minute of it.

Being careful, Ranger left his gun tucked under the driver seat with his maglight and other bad ass gadgets. Stephanie set her gun on the middle seat, backing away immediatly. She was still afraid of it.

Ranger glanced at her for a second, contemplating any possible reason why she had the gun in the first place. He remembered it not being in the cookie jar when he went through her apartment. Actually, that wasn't the only thing. No toothbrush, soap and very little make up. Ranger had assumed it was all at Joe's. He picked it up and set it beside his, only after he noticed there was a full round of bullets.

Security wasn't as big a mess as it usually was. The last time Ranger had taken a 747 like these was a few months after September 11, when all the rates were low. Stephanie was in line in front of Ranger, and carefully stepped out of her shoes and put them on the conveyor belt. Ranger had undone his while in line. She passed with flying colors, yet they held Ranger back.

He was pulled aside and thoroughly searched with a super-sensitive wand. It beeped just above his waist line. He lifted his shirt, and prodded at the ring in his belly button. Stephanie stared at it for a minute. She hadn't ever seen Ranger with his shirt off, visibly. Twice in the dark.

After another ten minutes, they let him go. Ranger checked his watch again. They still had forty five minutes. There was a few little shops, filled with knick nacks all plastered with the Statue of Liberty and the American flag. There was a book store, which Stephanie had begun browsing through. Ranger couldn't ever read a book while traveling. He was one of those types that hated being distracted. And with the Attacks hovering so close overhead, he certainly wanted to be the first into action if it were to be repeated.

He had lost valuable friends in the towers. It knocked the wind out of him, and he contemplated rejoining the army. But at that very time, Stephanie was thrown into his machine. The rookie without a prayer. Leaving her behind was like setting a newborn baby on someone elses door step. Some people could do that, others couldn't. And Ranger loved kids.

After twenty or so minutes, and $5.99 later, they made their way to the Terminal headed out to Las Vegas, Navada.