Disclaimer: Haha! I just realized I own Emily. And Tank's unborn children. Hmm…maybe I can use them to threaten Tank and make him kidnap Ranger and give him to me… Oh crap, I just remembered Ranger isn't real. Sad day. Anyway, I own no one except Tank's family.

Sorry that I didn't post yesterday, I spent about 2 minutes on the computer. (I actually did my homework last night! Gasp! I did it at school today however, so I can post:)) And sorry that this is being posted so late, I had to babysit. (If it makes you feel any better, I'm writing this instead of doing my Bio homework.)

Thanks to all my reviewers. I know this seems like a lame thanks and probably, because of that, doesn't seem very real, but it is. I love feedback. So, thanks very much:)

rinskigoddess-I had thought about the fact that the cops would probably do something, but that would sort of ruin the scene. Super lame excuse, but there you go.

And btw, I know it's ooc for Lester to say the whole 'Ranger's super sexy' stuff, but I found it amusing and thus, I put it in. Mauhaha! I have power over my own story!

Chapter 7

The rest of the night passed much like dinner had; with Lester making idiotic comments and the rest of us embarrassed into silence, with Stephanie giving Lester strange looks. At one point ("I'm tired, and I bet Stephanie and Ranger will be wanting to go to bed as well, although not necessarily because they are tired, so let's break up this conversation.") Stephanie gave Lester a strange look but then looked at me as though she was actually considering it. When I raised an eyebrow and she realized she'd been caught, she blushed and quickly looked away, causing all of us, except Stephanie, to grin.

Lester's last comment had, however, had the desired effect, causing us to all go up to bed. As I stood in the elevator with Stephanie, waiting as it rose, she looked over at me.

"What was up with Lester?"

I grinned, trying to think of anything that could be used to explain Lester's actions without telling the truth. Finally, I shrugged. "He's just weird, I guess." Judging by the look Stephanie gave me, she didn't buy it, but we'd reached her door, so I opened it and, ushering her in, began speaking again. "I'll be right across the hall if you need anything. I'm leaving this here so that I can come over if something happens." I held up a baby monitor, then set it on her bedside table.

I remembered what Tank had said when I'd told him to buy it today on his way home. "Ric, you're pathetic. Either let her take care of herself or sleep with her. This is just ridiculous." I'd glared at him and not responded and, luckily, he'd bought it and given it to me without further comment.

Now, I thought about it. Really, I guess it was sort of pathetic. Using a baby monitor for a grown woman? Why not just sleep with her? As soon as I'd asked myself the second question, I knew the answer: because I didn't want her to think I was interested only in sex.

Stephanie was speaking, so I quickly focused on what she was saying. "What do you think will happen? I mean, isn't the Batcave safe?"

I nodded. "From physical danger, yes. But I meant more along the lines of you getting scared, or having a night mare or some such thing."

She looked surprised, but then she nodded. "Thanks." She was still looking at me like she was trying to figure out why I'd suddenly started to care about night mares. Since I didn't plan on informing her that this wasn't a sudden thing and had in fact been going on for a long time, I just leaned towards her and brushed a kiss across her lips.

"Night, Babe." I walked towards the door and, just before I closed it behind me, I heard her voice. "Night, Ranger."

I was smiling as I went into my room. Once I was under the covers, wearing only black silk boxers, I started thinking about Stephanie. Ok, so I'd actually been thinking about her most of the day. But now I started thinking about how to get her to marry me. Despite the fact that I had her in my house, I was no closer to a serious commitment than I'd been when I found her in my apartment during the Slayer incident.

So far, none of the suggestions I'd gotten had helped. Tank's was worthless because it was common sense (I'd never have guessed that, in order to get her to marry me, I should tell her I love her and ask her to marry me! Thank goodness for Tank), Lester's was worthless because it was just plain stupid, and Emily's was worthless because there was no way I was going to get a dozen roses, go to a public place, and then completely throw away any vestige of pride I still had after having my panic attack in the hospital. And, having discarded everyone's suggestions, I was now right back where I'd started. Namely, nowhere.

I was distracted from my uninspiring train of thought as I noticed that Stephanie's breathing, coming through the baby monitor, had changed. I listened carefully and confirmed my suspicions. Her breath hitched and then was released in a quavering sob. She was crying.

I jumped out of bed and went to my door. I opened it, strode across the hall, and had just reached Stephanie's door when it flew open (I was glad that the doors opened inwards), and Stephanie ran out, straight into me. I caught her in my arms, holding her against my chest.

"Babe? What's wrong?" I kissed the top of her head.

"Nothing, I just had a bad dream."

Yeah. Nothing, my butt. Nothing wasn't what sent her fleeing her room as though it was haunted. "I could take your mind off nothing." I was joking of course, and I was pretty sure she knew it. Even if I was, as Lester said, 'emotionally inept', I was still sensitive enough to know that now was not the time for sex.

Not giving her a chance to reply to my fake offer, I turned towards my door. Guiding her towards it, I tried to think of what to say. No wonder she didn't want a relationship with me, I was emotionally inept. I was pretty sure that if I just held her, she'd calm down, but I couldn't think of a way to offer that without sounding like I was asking for sex.

As I steered her towards my bed, I finally decided that, even if it wasn't brilliant, I had to say something, or else I'd look like I was trying to seduce her. "You can sleep with me if you want. And I mean that completely literally."

She sort of smiled, and I heard her say quietly, "Too bad." However, I could tell it was a thinking out loud thing, not something meant for me to hear. The next time she spoke, however, it was meant for me. "Thanks."

I just nodded and got in bed. She hesitated and then got in. I was just about to pull her close, debating the likeliness of her pulling away, when she snuggled up against me. As far as I can remember, she's only done that three times, in bed anyway. The first was after I collected on her debt. The second was by accident, during the Slayer incident, when she thought I was Morelli. This was the third. Of course, she'd done this before, such as when I kiss her, but this was different. Because this was just cuddling, nothing sexual about it. And it was nice. Holding her in my arms, she quickly fell asleep and, with a small smile on my face that I couldn't get rid of, I soon followed suit.

The next morning, when I woke up, Stephanie was asleep. I smiled and tightened my arms around her waist a little bit. Hopefully not enough to wake her up, just enough so that she was pressed more firmly against me. Without my permission, a little contented sigh slipped out of me. To my surprise, Stephanie echoed the sentiment.

Seconds after she'd sighed, she opened her eyes and looked at me. If tradition kept, she would now realize I was me, not Morelli, get guilty, and pull away. Instead, however, she just smiled at me and then yawned.

"So, what happened last night?"

She looked like she might not answer, then she did. "That skip who beat me up was back, but you didn't come this time, so he just kept hurting me."

I could see the remembered fear and hurt in her eyes, so I gave her a little smile and tried to lighten the mood. "So you decided to come and get in bed with me?"

She smiled back. "It seemed like the thing to do at the time."

I kissed her lightly on the lips and then got out of bed. "Time to get up, Babe. I have to go catch some skips."

She frowned, but reluctantly sat up. I went to my closet and grabbed a pair of cargo pants (can you guess what color?), tossing them onto my bed.

Stephanie looked at them and then suddenly seemed to realize what my clothing selection implied. "Oh! He's going to get dressed!" This was said in a tone that told me that she was just thinking aloud, but I still decided to respond.

Grinning, I turned to her and spread my arms. "What? You thought I was going to go try to catch skips like this?"

She looked me up and down and, her eyes a lot darker than they'd been a little while ago, she murmured, again in the 'thinking aloud' voice, "It would certainly be effective for any female skips."

I raised an eyebrow. "Babe."

She blushed and jumped out of bed, quickly vacating the room. I chuckled, then got dressed.

After a quick breakfast, during which Stephanie looked distastefully at my food and muttered something that sounded like 'that man wouldn't know a good meal if it bit him in the butt', I was off to, as Stephanie accidentally said while I was walking out 'save the world.'

My apprehensions went more smoothly than normal, meaning only two shots were fired at me, none of which hit. I was just pulling in front of my sixth skip's house when my phone rang. Putting the truck into park, I glanced at the display, saw that it was Tank, and then answered.

"Yo."

"You probably want to get back here. Stephanie is snooping around in your room. How well did you hide the ring?"

I swore and, putting the truck into drive, peeled away from the curb. "Not that well. Stall her if you can." Not that anyone can stall Stephanie when she's intent on snooping, of course. I hung up and divided my attention between driving and thinking about the ring Tank had mentioned.

Directly after the Stiva incident, I'd bought an engagement ring. Of course, I'd never given it to her, and it was currently in a drawer in my bedside table. If I'd been thinking about it more, I'd have moved it to a better spot when Stephanie moved in. Unfortunately, it was too late, so I could just hope that Stephanie didn't find it, or else I'd be in an awkward situation.

I parked and, not wanting to wait for the elevator, which wasn't very fast, I started running up the stairs. I ran to my door and threw it open, striding into the room.

Stephanie had turned as the door banged against the wall and I saw that I was just in time. In her hands was the jewelry box, clearly about to be opened. I plucked it from her hands and put it in my pocket, gave her a smile, and then turned to leave.

"Wait! What is that?" She was walking with me as I walked out of the room.

"None of your business." Not yet anyway. Not until I figure out how to give it to you without looking like a moron. I pushed the elevator's down button and, when the elevator arrived, I walked in, Stephanie shadowing my moves.

"This is so annoying. You're always shutting me out of everything. Why don't you ever tell me anything?" A glance confirmed that Stephanie was annoyed, bordering on angry.

"Because it's not important." Ok, so I lied. Sue me.

She narrowed her eyes. "If it—" she was cut off by that annoying 'ding' sound that elevators make when they reach their destination. She continued again as the door opened and we stepped out. "If it's important enough that you came back here in the middle of saving the world, I'd say it's important."

Tank looked up at us. Actually, Tank, Lester, Bobby, and Emily all looked at us, since they were 'coincidentally' all sitting in the living room. Tank, however, was the one to speak. "So, did you get it? Or did she find it?"

"I got it." I looked over at Stephanie, who had gotten more annoyed by mine and Tank's exchange.

My attention was quickly diverted, however, because Emily spoke. "If you're looking for a good moment, now is probably it. There's plenty of us here to ruin your reputation in front of."

It took me a second to realize she was suggesting I should use her suggestion right now. Before I could do or say anything, Bobby jumped in. "Or, we could go with Lester's idea." When I was silent too long (apparently half a second is too long), Bobby nodded. He stepped towards Stephanie, getting down on one knee and taking her hand. She was staring at him with a mixture of confusion and the kind of expression reserved for the insane. Bobby, with a completely straight face, began to speak. "Stephanie, will you—"

With a sound suspiciously close to a growl, I pulled Bobby up off the ground, turned him, and shoved him so hard that I practically threw him across the room. As I did so, I cut off what he was saying. "Will you all please shut up!"

I ran a hand across my face and then, seeing that everyone was staring at me, I threw my hands in the air. "Fine!" I turned to Stephanie and, as per Emily's instructions, knelt before her. I took her hand, just as Bobby had done moments ago. "Stephanie, I love you." Her mouth dropped open and she stared at me. "Completely. Anything I've ever said to make you think otherwise was simply idiocy on my part. I've done a lot of idiotic things since I met you, and I'm sorry for them. I'm sorry I left after collecting my debt, I'm sorry for even setting up the debt, I'm sorry for shutting you out, I'm sorry for saying things that made you think I didn't love you, and I'm sorry for anything else that I've done that annoyed you." By now, her mouth had closed and a hopeful smile was spreading across her face. "I am sorry for any pain my idiocy has caused you, and I'll try to make up for it for the rest of my life. Stephanie, will you marry me?" With this last sentence, I reached into my pocket, pulled out the box she'd been holding minutes before, and opened it.

Stephanie, tears in her eyes (I was pretty sure they were tears of happiness), nodded. "Yes, Ranger. I love you so much."

I put the ring on her finger and stood, pulling her to me and kissing her. It was, as Emily had instructed, not an 'I want to take you against the wall now, and I don't care who's watching' kind of kiss. It was soft and loving. I pulled back and smiled at Stephanie then, deciding any bad-ass reputation I'd had with these guys (doubtful, since they lived with me) had just been destroyed and thus, I might as well go all the way, I swung Stephanie into my arms, walked to the elevator, pushed the button and, once the door opened, carried her in.

As the door closed behind me, I could hear Emily let out a little sigh and then speak. "Told you."

I could hear Tank chuckle and then he too spoke. "Technically, you told me he'd use roses. He didn't give Stephanie any roses."

The door closed and Stephanie, her arms around my neck, looked up at me with mock sadness. "I should have held out for the roses."

I grinned. "Babe."

A/N: Ok, sorry for the super late post. And also, sorry for the not so great ending. I had a much better one in my head and now it has fled. So…yeah. Anyway, please review