Disclaimer: I don't own anyone except Will Tusen and the rose sender.

So, in the last chapter, there wasn't really any Lula. In this one, there's some of her. I'll try to have an actual dialogue with her and not be abrupt and all that in this chapter. So, Lula shall speak (not that much though, sorry) in this chapter, and if she sucks, I'm sorry.

Jen, I'd actually completely forgotten about Morelli and Terri...hmm...I'm not sure I can work in any public embarrassment or some such thing, but if the oppurtinity arises, I'll seize it. And this is actually a rather Rangerless story, which is strange. He's coming back soon though, don't worry.

Chapter 6

I woke up the next morning and for a moment, was disoriented. Where was I? Then I took a deep breath and was momentarily distracted by the smell of Bulgari and Ranger. I felt an idiotic smile creeping onto my face and reminded myself that I was angry at Ranger. I got out of Ranger's bed, took a shower (not good for my anger. The smell of Bulgari was dissipating my annoyance with Ranger very quickly), and then got dressed. I heard someone knock at the door, so I went out of the bedroom and opened the door.

Tank stood there with a vase of roses. He held them out to me. "These just came for you. Are they from your stalker?"

I saw the note nestled among the crimson blooms and plucked it out, opening the envelope. Even before I read a single word, I quickly recognized the now very familiar writing. "Good morning, gorgeous. Did you actually think running to your boyfriend is going to make me unable to find you, or are you just trying to make the game more fun?"

I grimaced and handed the note to Tank. He read it quickly and then frowned. Before he could say anything, though, I spoke. "So, you weren't serious about the whole, I can't leave the building thing, right?"

Tank looked at me like it was a stupid question. "Of course I was serious."

I glared at him, then remembered that it was always worthless and decided it wasn't worth the effort, so I stopped. "So what if I just go out and hotwire Ranger's Porsche. What'll you do?"

Tank looked highly amused. "Assuming you even knew how to hotwire a car, I think you'd have a hard time with that, seeing as how the Porsche is currently in…" pause "…the same place as Ranger." I wasn't sure if he had actually almost messed up andtold me where Ranger was, or if he just felt like having me in suspense. He grinned. "I just felt like having you in suspense."

"But what about your SUV? What would you do if I hotwired that?"

Tank shook his head and then gave me an indulgent smile. "Bombshell, you don't know how to hotwire a car. I bet if you tried, the car would explode. Seeing as how Ranger would kill me if I let a car explode with you in it, I don't plan on letting you attempt to hotwire anything in the near future."

I was pretty sure this was the second time he'd made a reference to Ranger hurting him if anything happened to me. Maybe the third. I looked at him curiously. "You keep talking about Ranger as though he's threatened you with injury or death if I get hurt. Is that true? And if it is, why?"

He was silent for a moment and then said the one thing sure to get me off that topic. I don't know if he meant to distract me or not, but it worked. "I'm not going to talk to you about Ranger's motives. No one understands them. But, I do know that he'd want me to keep you in the building. So, until we catch the stalker, you are to stay in here. If you try to leave, someone will stun gun you."

"What!" It was half screech, half yell, and whatever that made it (a screll maybe? Or a yeech?), it made Tank wince. "Fantastic! That's just fan-friggin-tastic! Ranger's not even here and he's controlling my life." I was still screlling…or yeeching. Whatever. "This is exactly why I didn't call you when I found the first few notes." I was now pacing as well, gesturing wildly with my hands when I felt the moment was appropriate. "I didn't want Ranger involved in my life. I told myself that calling you would be a bad idea because then he'd be involved, indirectly. But, nooo, I saw a little bit of blood and I freaked out. Big mistake. Maybe it was ketchup! Who knows? In fact, I bet it was ketchup. And my stalker won't expect me to go back to my apartment. So, that's what I should do. Tank, drive me back to my apartment right now! I'll be nice and safe there and you can just return your attention to the whole, running Rangeman in Ranger's absence, thing." I looked at him expectantly.

He looked sort of bored. I could be misinterpreting his expression, of course. However, there was no doubt that he wasn't fascinated or moved by my appeal. He was quiet for a moment longer and gave me a 'are you done, then?' look, then spoke. "Bombshell, you're staying here. I'm not driving you back, neither is anyone else. I don't know why you are so opposed to having Ranger in our life, but by asking for my help, you got my help. I'm not going to suddenly decide to put you back in your apartment and leave you to your own defenses. If you try to leave, I'll personally come down and stun gun you, unless of course, I'm not available. Then I'll have someone else do it. And don't even think of trying to do what you did to Hal during the Slayer incident. We've all been instructed not to hand you anything more dangerous than a stapler unless we are given permission by Ranger that is meant for that specific occasion. Now, I've got to go do 'the whole, running Rangeman in Ranger's absence, thing'." Then he left. Typical.

I glared at the door as he closed it. I decided to be good, though. For now, at least.

By noon the next day, I was going insane. Other than Tank calling in the morning to inform me that another dozen roses had come with a note that said. "Good morning, gorgeous. Ready for the next round?" They had taken it, however, and saw no point in delivering it to me.

At 12:07 (I'd been watching the clock for the past four and a half minutes, for lack of anything better to do), I decided that I needed to get out. I began planning my escape and by 12:13, I had my fantastic idea.

I called Lula. After I explained, there was a pause.

"You're trying to escape from the Batcave?"

"Well…no. Not the Batcave. The Rangeman offices."

"Alright, fine. I'll come get you. Give me five minutes."

About five minutes later, Lula called, informed me that she was outside, and then hung up. Judging by the tone of her voice, she was enjoying this little 'help me escape, thing.' I grabbed my stun gun and left the apartment.

Tank's POV (A/N: I just felt like writing this scene from his POV, so…yeah.)

I was watching the security cameras when I saw Stephanie get into the elevator and go down to the parking lot. I shook my head, sort of amused, and at the same time exasperated. Checking another screen, I saw that Lula was waiting outside the gate in her car. So, this wasn't an impulsive escape attempt. Well…not completely impulsive.

I got out of my seat, grabbed the stun gun that I'd kept close just for this scenario, and went to the stairs, jogging down quickly. I got down to the parking lot in time to see Stephanie getting out of the elevator. She saw me as I came into the parking lot and she started running. I ran after her and caught up. By now, we were outside the lot and out on the street. Not quite at Lula's car, but close. I got between Stephanie and her getaway vehicle.

"Bombshell, where do you think you're going?" I saw that she had her own stun gun in her hand. Interesting.

She stopped, looking at me, then at the car behind her. She seemed to realize what I already had; there was no way she could get around me and to Lula's car before I caught her. She raised the stun gun and stood, tense and ready to lunge at me. I, on the other hand, held myself relaxed. Of course, I was ready to react if she tried anything.

Just as I'd expected her to, she suddenly lunged at me, holding the stun gun out in front of her. I grabbed her wrist in my right hand and spun her into me so that her back was against my front. As I did it, I pushed my thumb against her wrist in a way that made it impossible for her to bend it towards me and stun me. I wrapped my left arm around her waist and at the same time pressed the stun gun to her hip. Her body jerked and then she went limp. She sagged, as I'd known she would, so I just tightened the arm around her waist (which was there for exactly this reason) fractionally, holding her up. I took her stun gun from her hand before it hit the ground and, after turning them off, put both stun guns in my pocket.

Aware that Lula had watched the whole thing and now was staring at me, mouth gaping, I flashed her a grin and gave her a casual, two-fingered salute with the hand not holding up Stephanie, then swung Stephanie into my arms and walked back into the building. I went up to the seventh floor (discovering that holding an unconscious woman and trying to push a button at the same time was rather difficult) and then put her on Ranger's bed. I put the stun gun on the counter as I left.

When I returned to the control room, everyone grinned and saluted me, half laughing at me, half laughing with me, I was pretty sure.

Back to Stephanie's POV

I woke up with a bit of a headache. It took me moment to remember what had happened, and then I was rather annoyed. I called Lula again.

"Damn, girl! That man is the shit!" She didn't even let me get out a greeting before she said this and then started describing the scene that she'd seen, as though I hadn't been there. When she was done, I spoke.

"So, can you come get me again? I'm going to try again and hopefully it'll work." Lula agreed and five minutes later I got another confirmation call. Grabbing my stun gun, I headed towards the door to try again.

I'd gotten almost to the gate that would let me out of the parking lot before Tank intercepted me. Once again, he got between me and my destination. It was really annoying to see how easily he caught up with me. I wasn't sure how I could change my tactic to succeed this time, but I wanted to get out of the building. Plus, I now wanted to get out just to prove that I could.

"Bombshell, go back to Ranger's apartment."

I just gave Tank a 'are you kidding me?' look and ignored him. I inched towards the exit, hoping maybe he'd go on the aggressive and I could attempt to use the same tactic he'd used on me.

"By the way, after I put you back this time, you better stay. If you try to leave a third time, I'll handcuff you to the bed."

His confidence in his ability to get me back to Ranger's apartment was really annoying. I was still trying to figure out how to stun Tank when the one solution I hadn't thought of occurred. Lula, obviously not wanting to wait anymore, came walking into the garage. Surprise must have registered on my face, because Tank looked behind him. It was only a momentary break in his concentration, but it was enough. I lunged forward and stuck the stun gun into his arm. Even as I lunged, he'd realized his mistake and turned, grabbing my wrist. However, as I stunned him, his grip loosened and then he slumped to the ground. I grinned at Lula and we hurried to her car. Even as we got in, I could hear running footsteps in the parking lot. The rest of the Merry Men were coming to help Tank, apparently. Lula started the car and peeled away from the curb. Tank's helpers were too late; I'd escaped.

A/N: I actually don't have the much knowledge about stunguns. I don't know the effects, so if Stephanie wouldn't have had the energy to try again after waking up, sorry. And, it seems like if Tank stunned Stephanie while holding her the electricity would travel into him and they'd both go down but...uh...whatev. So, sorry for the innacuracies. Please review:)