"Ah ha! I found it." Stephanie rose to her feet quickly and turned around to hand Ranger the screw. At that exact moment Ranger did the same and it was precisely that chain of events that resulted in the loud 'THUMP'.

Stephanie stood stunned for a few seconds then faded to the floor as her world slowly dissolved from her eyes.

Steph In The Right Direction

Chapter Eight

An hour later Stephanie woke up on her new couch with a raging headache. It took a moment for her eyes to focus enough to make out the dark figure looming over her.

"Welcome back to the land of the living babe."

"What happened?" Stephanie asked groggily.

"You hit your head on the headboard of the bed."

Stephanie's cheek blushed involuntarily causing a huge ass grin to spread across Ranger's face.

"Don't worry, you didn't hit it like that. I was holding the board and turned around and hit you with it."

Stephanie calmed slightly then asked, "Why did you hit me? Did I make you mad."

Ranger laughed, "No. You turned at the same time I did. It was an accident. You passed out right after so I carried you in here. I was about to take you to the emergency room then you started talking in your sleep so I assumed you were ok."

Her memory came flashing back to her in bits and pieces. "We were putting the bed together?" She made it a question, wanting him to assure her she hadn't become delusional.

"Ah. Starting to remember I see." Ranger said as he slid from the couch and walked into the kitchen. He returned shortly after carrying ice wrapped in a washcloth. He lifted her legs just enough to slide underneath and lowered them to his lap. He gently pressed the compress against the bump on her forehead while absentmindedly stroked her leg.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. I'm sorry I was clumsy with the board."

"That's ok, but remember paybacks are a bitch." Stephanie laughed but stopped quickly as a sharp streak of pain spread across her head making her wince in discomfort.

"Hey, you ok? Maybe you should go to the emergency room after all." Ranger leaned closer to take a look into her eyes.

Stephanie pushed against his chest and freed herself in order to stand up. "I'm fine, I just need some aspirin." The moment she took the first step a wave of nausea brought her to her knees and then for the second time that night she passed out on the floor.

The next time Stephanie woke she was immediately annoyed by a nearby beeping sound. She threw her arm towards the sound assuming it was an alarm clock but instead of hitting a hard metal clock, her hand came in contact with firm, but soft flesh.

Ranger had been napping and the slap jump-started him into action. He sprang from the chair and had his gun drawn in a flash. When he realized what had happened he reholstered his gun then took a step closer to Stephanie. He leaned over her briefly before asking, "How ya feeling babe?"

Stephanie groaned, "Like I've been beat with a 2x4."

Ranger laughed, "It was more like a 4x6."

Stephanie responded to his smile and gave him one of her own. "Oh yes, I remember. And as I recall you were the one that beat me."

"Accident babe."

Stephanie nodded to him then slowly tried to raise herself to a sitting position. Ranger rearranged the pillows for her and helped her scoot back against the bed.

"The doctors say you have a mild concussion, nothing too serious. They were just waiting for you to wake up on your own."

"So does that mean I can go home?" she questioned.

"Yeah, you should be able to. Let me go get the doctor."

When Ranger left the room Stephanie looked around until she found the clock. It was now nearing 2:00am and she did some quick math in her head and figured they had been at the hospital for nearly four hours. Just as Stephanie was realizing that Ranger had waited for her the entire time, the man himself returned to the room with a pretty middle-aged woman.

"Hello Ms. Plum. Nice to see you awake and alert. I'm Dr. Hines."

The women exchanged pleasantries then the doctor asked Ranger to wait outside so she could give Stephanie a quick exam.

"Follow my finger Ms. Plum. Good, good. Are you having any double vision?"

"No."

"How about halos around objects? Seeing anything like that?"

"Nope."

"Well everything looks good. It will take you a little while for that bump to go down, but you should be fine. I'll send some pain medication with you on one condition. You can't take any for 24 hours. It will make you sleepy and as standard procedure with a concussion you need to stay awake for at least 12 more hours."

"Is that really necessary?"

"Unfortunately it is. So if you have no further questions I'll go get your discharge papers together."

"No more questions, thanks."

"Anytime Ms. Plum. I'll tell your boyfriend to give you a few minutes while you get changed."

"He's not my boyfriend." she said as a reflex.

The doctor smiled then turned towards the door. "Whatever you say Ms. Plum. But just remember, you aren't the first 'headboard concussion' I've ever seen."

Stephanie blushed then rose from the bed and begin getting dressed.

Ranger returned to the room as Stephanie was struggling to get her shoes tied. When she lifted her head to see who had come through the door, she immediately felt the room spin. Ranger rushed to her side and grabbed her shoulders to keep her from falling off the bed.

"Easy babe. Here, let me tie your shoes."

Stephanie flopped back on the bed and laughed, "So this is what I've been reduced to. I know have the equivalent physical ability of a kindergartener."

Ranger laughed, "Yeah, but it won't last too long." He finished tying her shoes and lifted her to her feet. "Come on, let's get you home."

Propped on Ranger's shoulder Stephanie gathered her belongings and headed out the door of the hospital room. As soon as they stepped into the hall a group of three candy stripers stared at them briefly then giggled. As they approached the nurses desk to sign the discharge papers the nurse with her back turned to the desk said, "Well, I don't blame her. If I had a stud like that I'd do everything I could to keep my head banging on the headboard too."

"Ahem" Ranger coughed as the super embarrassed Stephanie turned twelve shades of red.

"Oh yes, Ms. Plum. The doctor left these papers for you. Sign here and you are free to go. I'll just grab a wheel chair for you." said the now blushing nurse.

"I don't need a wheelchair. I'm fine, thanks." Stephanie said, trying her best to hide her red face.

The nurse frowned. "I'm sorry Ms. Plum, it's policy that patients do not walk out of the hospital. It's a liability thing."

Ranger eyed Steph then said, "Don't worry, I'll take care of that." Then he waited only long enough for her to finish the paperwork before scooping her into his arms and carrying her from the building. They could hear the nurses swoon all the way to the parking lot.

The car ride back to her apartment was done in the typical silence which accompanied all trips with Ranger. 'At least some things never change', Stephanie thought to herself.

When they arrived at the building Ranger helped her from the car and practically carried her into the apartment. He had propped her against his chest in the elevator and Stephanie was once again dizzy, however it was for a whole new reason.

Nearly as soon as they walked through the door, Stephanie tried to end a bad situation before it could begin. "Well, thanks for taking care of me Ranger, sorry I kept you so long."

"Not so fast Plum. According to doctor's orders you are not to sleep for roughly eleven and half more hours. So to ensure your safety I'm staying until it's safe." Ranger said as he made his way to her kitchen.

Not feeling up for an argument, Stephanie retreated to the living room and plopped down on the couch. Her eyes flicked back towards the kitchen and she felt a familiar twinge in her stomach. Ranger was moving around her kitchen as if it were his own. Her immediate reaction was one of happiness, but then quickly she remembered the events of the last couple of months. She had worked way too hard to allow this man to simply walk back into her life as if nothing had changed. She had changed, and whether he liked it or not, he was about to see just how much.

Before settling into the opposite end of the couch, Ranger handed Stephanie a bottled water and half the sandwich he had just made.

"Eat. It'll help keep you from getting nauseous again." he said.

After the sandwich was gone, Stephanie turned on the couch so she was facing Ranger. "Since you are being stubborn and won't leave, I suppose now would be a good time for us to talk."

Ranger raised an eyebrow then turned his body toward hers and nodded his head in agreement.

Stephanie thought for a moment about the speech she had been trying to perfect for months, but she was suddenly not finding the words. "I don't really know where start."

Without showing any sort of emotion Ranger said, "Why don't you start by explaining what you said to me this afternoon."

"I thought that I had actually made myself clear." Stephanie shrugged.

"Wasn't clear to me or then again maybe I'm just not use to being called a molester or a rapist." Ranger said with anger appearing in his voice for the first time.

"I never called you either one of those things Ranger."

"But you did say that I always just 'took'. I didn't realize it was such a hardship for you all those times we kissed."

Stephanie crossed her arms and started to get mad herself. "First off Ranger, you can't rape the willing. And secondly, I never had a problem with it before so that's why I never complained. In fact, I welcomed those kisses and touches every single time they happened."

"But now you don't? What happened to make me become suddenly so unattractive to you?"

Stephanie rolled her eyes. "Give me a break. You know damn well you're the sexiest guy around. And under the right circumstances I would be more than willing to be the recipient of one of your mouth watering kisses. But I've changed Ranger. If I've learned anything over the last couple of months, it's the fact that I simply deserve better."

"So I'm not good enough for you now?" Ranger said smugly.

"Never said that either. But I will say this, I deserve a helluva lot more than some stolen kisses in a dirty alley."

Ranger frowned, "My life doesn't lend…."

Stephanie cut him off "itself to relationships. Yeah I know, you've played this record to me before. And I'm sorry that you don't do relationships because I would definitely be interested in exploring that with you. But on the flipside, I shouldn't lower my standards just because of a choice you made."

"So now what? You run back to Morelli so I'll stop kissing you?"

"No, I'm going to go on a date with Joe to see if there ever was or ever will be something serious between us. We owe each other at least that much. And for the record Ricardo, I have allowed you a lot more leeway than I ever would have Joe if the situation had been reversed."

Ranger took a moment to collect his thoughts before proceeding again. "So if it bothered you that much, why didn't you tell me to stop doing it?"

"Because I didn't want you to stop. But then I had a nice hard dose of reality and I realized that if something didn't change I would still be kissing you in back alleys ten years from now. As fun as kissing you may be, at some point it wasn't going to be enough. And unfortunately it looks like that time has already come."

Ranger's expression changed as he sent her the wolf grin. "Well if it's more than kisses you wanted all you had to do was ask."

Stephanie struggled not to blush. "And as fun as doing that with you may be I don't want just that either. You are awesome at the night before stuff, but you really suck at the morning after stuff."

"Morelli's a good guy babe." Ranger said, knowing exactly what she was thinking about.

"Yes he is Ranger, but I don't need you to tell me that."

Ranger stood and abruptly walked to the kitchen. After padding around for a few moments he returned to the couch with a fresh bottle of water. "So what is it you are wanting me to say Stephanie? I don't do commitments."

"I don't want you to say anything, and I didn't ask for a commitment. All I want is for you to know that I've changed. I wear too many of my feelings on my sleeve to keep allowing things to go on like they have been. It was time for me to change. I'm now strong enough to admit that I want to share my life with someone. That doesn't necessarily mean I want the marriage and the 2.5 kids. It just means I want someone to share my good times and bad times with and someone that will trust me enough to do the same with me."

"Are you implying that I've prevented you from doing that?"

"No need to imply. I prevented myself from doing it so it's not your fault. But I realized that unless something changed we were going to stay in that same pattern for awhile. I want more than just someone to make out with and as long as I was doing that with you nothing would have ever changed."

Ranger took a long gulp of water and thought about what she had just said. "So where does that leave us now. Do I loose the friendship along with the kissing rights?"

Stephanie frowned, "You should know me better than that. We will always be friends and I'll always be there to help you out."

"But you just won't let me kiss you anymore?"

"Not as long as you're enforcing your no relationship rule."

Another long gulp and another pause later, "What if I forget about that rule?"

Stephanie felt dizzy again. "Then you ask me on a date and we see what happens."

Ranger didn't flinch, blink, grin, frown, yawn, or smile. He just sat there staring at Stephanie. When she finally couldn't take his stare any longer she looked away. And when she got bored with the silence she grabbed the TV remote and flipped through the channels. After watching the last 15 minutes of an 'I Love Lucy' rerun, Ranger finally spoke.

"So do you have Scrabble or something? I have a feeling the next 9 hours are going to be long ones."

To be continued…