Disclaimer: Nope. Still don't own anything.

Chapter 9

Ranger's POV

I stood frozen, looking at the scene before me. Stephanie was lying on the hospital bed, a man that looked faintly familiar holding her wrist with, if her look of pain could be counted on, a less than gentle grip.

I clicked off the safety on my gun and pointed it at him. "Get away from her." I really didn't want to kill someone in front of Stephanie, but I would if I had to. I know that she knows I killed Abruzzi, but she's never actually seen me kill someone, and I'd like it to stay that way.

The man looked at me and I recognized him as a skip I'd sent Stephanie after, Matt Clark. His eyes filled with hatred and then he whipped out a knife, pushing a button that sent the blade shooting out. He grabbed Stephanie's hair and pressed the knife to her pulse. My heart stopped for a second and then started up again at a speed that had to be at least three times as fast as was normal.

"I've decided, my dear." Clearly, he was talking to her, because I couldn't imagine him calling me his dear. "You don't get another chance. Maybe if you'd only slept with him, I'd forgive you. But because you are carrying his child." He shook his head. "I'm afraid that's unforgivable."

I flicked a glance to Stephanie, confused. I saw the terror in her eyes and looked back at Clark. I was careful to keep the fear that I was feeling out of my expression. At the same time, I was yelling at myself. I should have followed Stephanie from the office right away instead of bothering with the papers. Then, I should have made her tell me what was happening instead of just leaving when Diesel came. And then I should have kept her safe. And, even if I hadn't done any of that, I shouldn't have walked out just now. Instead, I should have stayed with her and called Tank to have him come get the note. But definitely, I should not have left her alone and given this psychopath a chance to get his hands on her.

I pushed aside my self recriminations for the moment and glared at Clark. "One more chance. Get away from her or I'll kill you."

Clark laughed. "You wouldn't dare. My knife is on her jugular. If you fire, I'd slit her throat before the bullet hit me, and then you'd lose your baby and your lady love."

I wasn't sure if that was true or if he'd die before he could do anything. I wasn't, however, willing to risk it. "The way I see it, you're planning on killing her anyway." And if he did, I wouldn't shoot him. A bullet would be far too kind.

Clark smirked, looking down at Stephanie, but speaking to me. "You don't fool me. Your too scared to actually do anything. Now, I want you to drop your gun and slid it to me."

Of course, I did nothing of the sort. I kept my gun aimed between Clark's eyes, waiting for him to make some kind of mistake that would let me get rid of him without hurting Stephanie. I knew I'd have to kill him. As much as I didn't want Stephanie to see me kill someone, I would rather kill a thousand people in front of her than let anyone hurt her.

Clark took his gaze off Stephanie to glare at me. "Do it." I stayed still. "Now!" His grip tightened on her hair and, at the same time, he pressed the knife against her neck a bit harder. A tiny bead of blood welled up at the tip of the knife, then slowly dripped down Stephanie's neck.

I put the safety onto my gun and dropped it on the floor, kicking it towards him. I had plenty of other weapons on me. I no longer had one in my hands, which bothered me, but at the same time, a weapon in my hand was no use if it got Stephanie killed.

Clark chuckled. "Good. I see you can be trained." He looked down at Stephanie. "But what about you? If I change my mind and let you live, will you be good?" She didn't respond, but kept her gaze locked on me. She looked terrified, but at the same time, completely trusting, sure that I could get her out of the situation. Clark trailed the knife down her neck, not actually cutting her. "Answer me."

Stephanie nodded. "Yes."

Clark smiled. "Good." He continued to bring the knife lower and lower. Across her collarbone, then her shoulder, and down her arm. He pricked one of her fingertips and she winced.

And it was his confidence that was his mistake. Now that the knife was farther away from her neck, I could make my move. I reached to the small of my back and pulled out my gun, aiming and firing. All of it was accomplished in about a second, and Clark had just started to turn when the bullet hit his chest and, with a shocked expression on his face, he fell, the knife clattering harmlessly to the floor.

I ran to Stephanie. "Are you ok?" I pressed the call button without looking at it, not looking away from her face.

Stephanie nodded. Then she started crying. I sat on the edge of her hospital bed and gathered her into my arms, kissing the top of her head and squeezing my eyes shut to prevent myself from crying as well. That was, I think, the scariest experience of my life, but she didn't need me falling apart right now.

She wrapped her arms around my waist and pressed her face into my chest. Her words, when she spoke, were slightly muffled. "Ranger, I was so scared. I didn't think you'd come back in time. And then, when you did, I thought he'd kill me before you could do anything. I thought I was gonna die."

I kissed her again. "I know, babe. I was scared too."

She froze, then looked up at me, her tears abruptly stopped. "You were scared?"

I nodded, taking advantage of her upturned face to kiss her lips. It had been meant as a gentle, basically chaste kiss, but, had the nurse not entered right then, it wouldn't have stayed that way.

The nurse came in and cleared her throat. She stared at Clark's body, and then looked over at us. I was leaning against the wall and Stephanie was in my lap, twisted in an awkward position so that she was facing me. Stephanie had a small path of blood from the middle of her throat down to her hospital gown, where a bloody patch was spreading in the fabric. One of her fingers was also bleeding, but just barely. The nurse's eyes were so wide, it was a miracle her eyes didn't pop out of her head.

I set Stephanie back on the bed and stood, though I didn't move away from her, staying about four inches away from her. "This man tried to kill Stephanie. Please call the police and also check Stephanie's injuries." True, they were tiny. However, at the moment, I didn't feel like taking any chances with anything.

Stephanie shook her head. "I'm fine. These don't even deserve a bandaid." I started to protest and she shook her head. "Really, I'm ok. Just…" she looked at Clark, and then quickly looked away. "am I allowed to leave yet?"

The nurse checked the chart she'd brought with her and nodded. "Yes. We were actually just about to release you. Just make sure you make that appointment we discussed to check on the baby."

Stephanie nodded. "And can I have my clothes back?" The nurse nodded, left, and returned a few minutes later, handing Stephanie a bag of clothes. Stephanie looked at the clothes, then at the nurse. "This isn't the shirt I wore in."

The nurse shook her head. "No. Some man brought it."

Stephanie pulled it out and I grinned. It was one of mine. "Must have been Tank. I can send him to get you something else, if you want."

Stephanie shook her head, smiling. I was surprised she could smile after going through that. Of course, I suppose she must be used to it. I, on the other hand, was still pretty freaked out form it. It's true I too should probably be used to it by now, but I still get really scared whenever I'm told that she's in trouble. "I think it's nice. I'm surprised he thought of it."

She walked to the door that led to the bathroom attached to the hospital room. I stood outside the door while she changed. She came back out and looked up at me. "Can we go, please?"

I nodded and wrapped an arm around her waist. I did it for several reasons. One, to reassure myself that she was alive and, mostly, unhurt. But also, because I had no intention of letting her out of my sight until we'd had the discussion that got interrupted earlier. If then.

Stephanie looked up at me in surprise when I wrapped my arm around her. I just smiled down at her and then started walking out of the door. She walked beside me, and, after a moment's hesitation, even wrapped her arm around my waist. I smiled down at her again.

I managed to avoid the waiting room. I didn't want her being commandeered by Lula and Connie. Right now, she was all mine. Hopefully, she'd still be mine after we talked.

Once we were in my car and I'd started driving she spoke. "Where are we going?"

"My apartment." I knew she was wondering why, so I answered before she could ask. "We need to talk, babe. About the baby, and about us. But I want to be able to focus completely, so we're not doing it until we're somewhere safe where I don't need to worry about driving or you getting hurt."

She just nodded and the rest of the ride was spent in silence. As was the walk to the elevator, the ride up in the elevator, and the walk to my couch. Then, I sat down and she sat down next to me, turning her body to look at me.

"So." She then fell silent, clearly waiting for me to start talking.

Well, I might as well just get to the point. "Babe, I love you. I never should have sent you back to Morelli. And forget the 'in my own way.' I love you completely. As in, I want to marry you, have children with you, grow old with you, kind of love. My life doesn't lend itself to relationships, but I've realized every day since I said that that it's worth the effort and pushing you away all this time is the stupidest thing I've ever done."

Stephanie was staring at me. Guess the direct approach was a little too abrupt. "Babe?"

She blinked a few times, then smiled and launched herself at me, hugging me. "I love you, Ranger." She raised her head and kissed me.

A few minutes later, I pulled back. Both of my hands were in her shirt (don't ask me how they got there, it wasn't a conscious decision), and we were both breathing very hard. I removed my hands and looked at her. "So was that a yes?"

She looked surprised. "That was a proposal? I thought you were just laying out your plans for some day in the distant future."

"Yes, it was a proposal." Based on the fact that my proposal wasn't even recognizable as one, I suppose it's safe to say I'm not the most romantic man ever. I didn't even have a ring. Of course, in my defense, I hadn't exactly planned on this when I woke up this morning.

Stephanie smiled at me. "Then, yes. Definitely."

"Good." I returned the smile. I was trying to figure out what to do next. Possibly, I could just return to what I'd been doing, but I didn't want it to seem like I only wanted her for sex. On the other hand, I could just sit in an awkward silence, like I was doing right now.

Stephanie solved the problem by reaching up and wrapping her arms around my neck and then kissing me again. That pretty much settled it, so we resumed our activities of moments before, although now we moved into the bedroom.

Quite some time later, Stephanie, who was snuggled up against me, with my arms around her, spoke. "So, do I have to wait until after we're married to see the Batcave?"

I grinned. "Babe."

A/N: Ok. The end. I hope you liked the ending, or at least didn't dislike it too much. Please review. And, I'm sorry if everyone seemed really out of character: I've been working on my novel more than fanfics lately, so I'm not used to writing about Stephanie and Ranger. There were many times when I almost called them Nicole and Eric (the main characters in my book) rather than Stephanie and Ranger, so count your blessings!

Oh, and I know that I pretty much didn't include her family in this at all. Possibly, I'll write another chapter in which she and Ranger tell her family about the baby. But, not right now. This was mainly focusing on Ranger and Stephanie's relationship.