Title:
Chapter 5: Oh God, she's back
Author: Ann (Chrystalsandsnowflakes)
Rating: (G to NC-17): G
Spoilers/Warnings: Takes place in the future, so after EOT
Summary: Ranger tells Tanks his decision
Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine, I just play with them

Oh God, she's back
(The same Monday that Steph goes back to work)

"Yo"

"Yo yourself"

"You're back. How was business?"

"Good. Can I see you in my office first thing?"

"Okay"

"Listen, the business deals are done. I will sign the final contracts this week. This gives me some time to spend with my daughter. I will leave for Miami on Wednesday and will stay for about one month. You will have the responsibility then."

"Okay."

"Tank…"

"Yes?"

"I don't want to be disturbed at all if not really necessary… not even… not even about Stephanie"

"What brought this on then?" The bastard, Ranger thought, he is smirking inside.

"It's time to move on" More or less the truth. He had to move on, for his own sake. Tank simply nodded.

After a couple of hours, Ranger put the last file on the 'finished' stack, and sighed. Paper work was finished for now, but it felt like that had finished much more than that. He knew that the only way he could move on from Stephanie, emotionally, was to put some distance between them. He hoped that after a month of complete communication silence in an environment where there were no memories of her he would be able to drive away his feelings for her.

His cell phone rang. Connie.

"Yo"

"Hi Ranger. I got some files for you, can you drop by later today?"

"No problem"

"Oh, I got some hot news" Ranger smirked and raised an eyebrow to himself. Since when did Connie think that he was interested in Burg gossip?

"I'm busy"

"You will want to know this" Ranger cringed. He really didn't want to know that Steph was pregnant or something like that.

"Stephanie is…"

"I got to go" Ranger ended the conversation quickly. He knew it was rude, but he just couldn't cope with that right now. He had made his decision, but that didn't mean that it was easy. Shit, he had already agreed to drop by the office today to pick up the files. Mmm, maybe he could send Tank. 'Coward' he thought to himself. He still wondered sometimes how it was possible that a man of his physical strength could be so weak when it came to his feelings. He guessed that his training only taught him to push the feelings away, and not to deal with them. Wonderful, just what he needed.

In the end he decided to go to the office himself, a little bit later in the afternoon so that Lula had hopefully gone home. He had to talk to Vinnie, to tell him about his absence. He would offer him Tank to take care of any high bonds.

"Hi Ranger"

"Connie"

"I've got your files right here"

"Thanks"

He quickly scanned through them. The first two were familiar to him, the third name was new. Probably moved here when the earth became a little too hot under his feet somewhere else. He heard the door open behind him, and started to turn around. The fact that he had stood with his back to the door longer than absolutely necessary showed to him how much he needed to clear his head of his feelings for Stephanie.

"I got him! It was …"

"Babe!" Oh my god, what was she doing here!

"Ranger!" God, she looked good. Ranger looked at her and saw that the sparkle in her eyes had returned. Not at its maximum shine yet, but it was definitely there. He didn't trust himself to say anything yet, so he just quirked an eyebrow. She flushed slightly.

"I, eh… I am back to work again" What would that mean? No baby? He kept looking at her; it usually got her to tell more. But this time she just looked back at him. She looked beautiful, but different. She looked tired but alive, she looked… she looked… she looked like the women of his dreams. She started to fidget under his long gaze.

"Eh… Ranger… I would like to… eh, what I mean is… eh… I need to… eh…" He quirked his eyebrow again. She leaned a little bit forward to lower her voice and probably to stop Connie from hearing her. She seemed to want to say something, but then suddenly he could see her changing her mind. She stood straight again, looked at Connie and said:

"Here is the body receipt for my FTA" She sounded proud of herself.

"Are you okay, Babe?" She looked at again, smiled her wonderful smile and said:

"Yeah…" She seemed lost in her thoughts for a moment. "Yeah, I'm good." For some reason he had the feeling she wasn't talking about his question.