Title: It's all about living life
Chapter 7: Taking a hit
Author: Ann (Chrystalsandsnowflakes)
Rating: (G to NC-17): NC-17
Spoilers/Warnings: Violence and a little language. Takes place in the future, so after EOT
Summary: Ranger and Tank get into a fight about Stephanie
Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine, I just play with them

Taking a hit

Ranger drove back to his office at high speed. His thoughts whirled through his mind, all of them related to Stephanie. How come she was back at work? What did that mean? What was the news that Connie wanted to tell him? Maybe he did want to know after all. How come nobody had told him that she was back to work? He was supposed to be the first to know!

He screeched to a stop in the garage and ran upstairs to the fifth floor. All conversation came to an abrupt stop as he burst through the doors.
"Tank! In my office, now!"

"Hey, be cool man" What? Be cool? And he said that to my face in front of my employees?

"Make it the gym, 5 minutes" I had the pleasure of seeing him cringe a little and all the other guys seemed to take a step further away from me. That's right, don't fuck with me today. I went straight to the gym, I knew that Tank would do the same.

"What's wrong with you man?"

"Why wasn't I informed about Stephanie?" I stood by the mat, taking off my weapons and shoes and socks. I motioned for Tank to do the same. But he just stood there, watching me.

"I want to practice, put down your weapons"

"No, you just want to beat the shit out of someone. I will not take the heat for your inability to deal with your feelings. I did that often enough" Wow, that was a direct blow even if he didn't use his fists.

"Excuse me?" My shirt joined my shoes and socks on the floor and I stepped on the mat.

"You know what I mean" Tank growled, still standing fully clothes beside the mat, but he had put his weapons down.

"You better watch what you are saying" I spoke in low tones, showing Tank how close I was to losing my control.

"No, you better watch what you are saying" Guess he was also close to losing his control, because his voice started to rise and he started to walk towards me.

"You have been turning around Stephanie since the moment you guys met. You have used an enormous amount of resources every time she was in danger. Your temper seems to fluctuate with the amount of time you get to spent with her. And we had to deal with your anger every time she went back to Morelli and especially after the marriage" He was shouting now, pushing me.

"I've had enough of this. Since she quite working, you have been an ass to work with. That's right, you have been an ass for the past 3 months." He stopped there and took a step back. He had pushed me of the mat against the wall. I let his words sink into me and to give me some time to come up with a reply. Inside it hurt to hear this from him, my best friend. Also, I was furious. At Tank for saying it, and at myself for allowing his words to penetrate my defenses. Being a little bit preoccupied with my thoughts, I never saw it coming. I saw a movement out of the corner of my eye and the next thing I know was feeling his fist on my jaw. Jesus Christ, that hurt!

"And that was for accusing me of not keeping you informed, while you asked me specifically this morning to not be disturbed, and especially not about her. Or did you forget that already?"

Shit, he was right, I had. But I knew there was a story about Stephanie going back to work, and I had to hear it. The fact that Tank didn't even mention anything convinced me that something big was up and he probably didn't want me to hear it until I was back from Miami. That meant that Tank might think it had the potential to change my mind about going! I had to know.

"Tell me!" I growled. I didn't need to explain to him what I meant, he knew.

"No way man, you can ask her yourself. I am done taking hits for something I can't influence"

"Tank" I said warningly. He just looked at me with quiet eyes. I tasted blood inside my mouth. Fuck him, he was gonna pay. In one movement I grabbed him by his shoulders, finding some pressure points, and turning to smack him against the wall, pinning him there with one arm across his throat.

"Tell me" I gritted through my teeth. I was way past control now, and I didn't really care about the fact that I forgot to scramble the security cameras in this room. It would function as a warning not to go against me.

"Tell me!" I pushed harder against him, making it hard for him to breathe.

"Ric, man" he said softly, "Let it go"

"TELL ME!" Emotions took over and I paid immediately. Tank managed to push me away, and he landed a couple of good blows before I had my defenses in place. We were back on the mat again, slowly circling each other.

"I need to know" I said softly. Tank gave a snort and I hit him as a response.

"You don't need to hear this from me, Ranger, go on, call her, ask her" Tanks voice was soft, teasing, daring me. It made me furious again.

"I asked you! I'm your boss, so answer me!" I knew that the 'boss' argument would cost me, because this was between him and me personally, and had nothing to do with Rangeman or any other work that we did. But what could I say to him? That I had seen her today but that she didn't seem to want to tell me? That I felt so inadequate to deal with any emotions right now that I needed to hear it in an environment where I could respond physically to the news before facing the world again? Mmm, guess Tank had been right about him taking hits for telling me about Stephanie, thinking back.

Tank threw his head back and laughed a sarcastic laugh.

"Ricardo, is that the best you can do?" What was wrong with the man, did he want me to go over the edge? Did he have a death wish? Because the way he kept pushing my buttons was sure to take care of that. I felt myself boil over and I lunged for him.

Tank POV

We went down. But I expected it, and instead of him hitting me, I was ready to beat the shit out of him. I had deliberately challenged him until he charged, because I needed to get through to him. He was so occupied with her that he was getting distracted, and that was dangerous for himself and his team. Despite the fact that she was happily married for three years now he still was longing for her. I had tried anything and everything to get Ranger back on track, including some very attractive ladies, but Ranger never showed any interest at all. I was getting desperate, and today I decided to simply use brutal force. I was stronger than he was, and with him being distracted I could take him. For a moment I had considered taking it easy on him, landing just a few blows to get the message across, but after the 'boss' argument my restraint also went out of the window. He would pay for that.

Ranger POV

Even before we hit the mat I felt Tank landing blows everywhere. He managed to turn while falling and landed on top of me. I felt all the air leave my lungs when I hit the ground flat on my back and Tank on top of me. I started grasping for breath while Tank kept hitting me. A thought flashed through my mind: I was going to look and feel like shit tomorrow. Tank wasn't holding back anymore. I felt some particularly hard blows. My ribs, my jaw (of course the same side as the first blow), left eye, ribs again, stomach, ribs again and my nose. Something cracked and I saw stars. I had finally managed to get some air back into my lungs again when Tank flipped me around on my stomach, landing hard blows to my kidneys and my sides.

"Nock… off… the… ribs" I managed to get out while putting my hands beside me on the ground to lift some pressure of my hurting ribs. The blows to my ribs and kidneys stopped, but in stead he grabbed both my arms and my face smacked on the floor. Damn, my nose hurt. He twisted my arms behind my back and pushed. I felt the muscles in my shoulders strain.

"Listen, you fuck, I'll tell you about Stephanie if you really want to know so badly" Another push to my arms and a moan escaped my mouth when sharp pains shot through my shoulders.

"Tell me" Jeez, I was more or less reduced to begging. Look at me! I was getting the shit beaten out of me by my best friend and second in command, and I still only thought about her. Tank let go of my right arm and I felt his arm slide around my throat from behind. Oh great! I felt him pull back and my ribs protested painfully when my shoulders were lifted of the mat. Breathing was getting a bit difficult between the pain in my ribs and the pressure on my throat. Fucking fantastic.

I coughed painfully. I felt his breath against the side of my head when he whispered close to my ear.

"Morelli and Stephanie split up for good. She doesn't want a baby and he does and with some other differences between them they have decided to go their separate ways. The house went up for sale this morning and Stephanie is back to work fulltime as we speak."

I couldn't believe my ears. She left him! This could mean that…

"Don't even think about it, Ric!" Tank growled in my ear.

"She isn't even divorced yet, and it's going to take a while for her to get over this. They really loved each other, actually they still do! So don't you dare to go and makes things difficult for her. She needs time to come to terms with this and she doesn't need some lovesick guy to stir things up. I will make personally sure that you get on that fucking plane to Miami and stay there for at least a month!" I started to protest against that, but he simply increased pressure on my throat, cutting off my air. I started to wriggle to get out of his grasp (not a fat chance in hell of course) but he pushed my arm higher and the arm around my neck started to go further up as well. With a groan of pain I immediately stopped, the pain was far beyond my comfort level. I was afraid that if I kept moving I might dislocate something. Tank released some of the pressure when I stopped moving and I tried to take a few shallow breaths to calm myself.

Deep down, I knew he was right. Stephanie had been really happy with Morelli, and it could take months if not years for her to get over this. It wouldn't be fair if I started to increase pressure again, just because I still loved her. Maybe she wouldn't want me, not even after she moved on from this. A sharp pain went through my heart. I had never thought about that possibility. Mmm, better not think about that now. Shit, I really wanted to be there for her now, but listening to Tank made it clear to me that he would drug me if necessary to get me on that plane.

"Tank…" Maybe I could postpone going to Miami until I was sure that she would be alright.

"No Ric, you need to give her some space and you need some distance as well. This is getting dangerous" I couldn't argue with that really, but that didn't mean I wouldn't give it one last try.

"Just until... Ow! Fuck you! Argh!" Tank was increasing pressure again. The bastard.

"You were saying, Ric?"

"Jesus, that hurts! What is wrong with you?" My nose started to pound heavily and I felt blood running down my face and dripping of my chin.

"No, what is wrong with you? You behave like shit to us, to me, and you don't even apologize! I've had it with this"

"Oh, and you thought that beating the shit out of me evened the score?" I was getting pissed again.

"No, I still want that apology from you" What!

"What!"

"You heard me, and you damn well know what I am talking about!" I did, and somewhere deep down I was ashamed of myself. Looking back at it, it was surprising that Tank and the guys had accepted it for so long.

"Let go of me first" I needed time to get over my pride. Tank chuckled.

"No man, this is going to happen while you are down and defenseless"

"Oh, fuck yogghhh" Tank squeezed my throat again.

"Try again" He really wasn't letting me get away with it, and I felt like a very young boy again. I deserved it, but I really didn't like it. I swallowed a few times to get rid of the blood in my mouth and to swallow my pride. After a few very quiet moments I finally surrendered. I relaxed, taking some pressure of my shoulder and Tank released some pressure on both my arm and my throat.

"… I'm sorry…" I didn't sound too sure of myself though… and immediately Tank increased the pressure again.

"What did you say?"

"You heard me" I mumbled.

"I'm not sure I heard you correctly" Oh great, just rub my nose in it.

"Look, I said I was sorry!" I shouted, and immediately coughing from the deep breaths. Damn, those ribs hurt.

"Thank you. That was all I wanted to hear." Glad to be of service. Tank let go of my throat and got out his cell phone to call someone. I rested my head on the floor, careful that my nose didn't touch anything. It was seriously sensitive.

"Yo, is Bobby in?" I started to fight again, I didn't want Bobby down here. Tank placed a knee on my back and I felt my arm being pushed upwards again.

"Stay still, Ric"

"I don't need Bobby" Cough. Oh yeah, that helps your case.

"Yeah, you do. Your nose is broken and your ribs need to be checked out… Or do you want to go to the ER?" He knew I hated the ER, with all those nurses swooning over me.

"Hmpf" Excellent answer Manoso!

"Yo Bobby, could you come to the gym? Bring a kit." I couldn't hear Bobby's response.

"It's Ranger" Great. Everybody would know now, the great Manoso got his ass kicked by Tank.

"Broken nose, possible rib fracture, bruising" and Tank hung up.

"He's coming" Tank started to get up, and my arm and shoulder savored the feeling of being free again. I slowly got up, hurting everywhere and I saw some stars again. Tank turned his back on me and I instinctively reacted. Nobody gets away with attacking me like that. I started a right hit when Tank spun around and grabbed my right fist and pulling me forward. It was also instinct on his side, because he probably didn't mean for my fist to end up against the wall, dislocating a finger and bruising all my knuckles.

"Oh, fuck!" I said as pain shot up my arm.

"Sorry man. But I don't want to talk about this again. Is that clear?" He looked me straight in the eye and I knew I would have to surrender… again. Sigh… Cough…

"Okay"

Bobby chose that moment to walk in, and he stopped dead in his tracks. Looking around I started to understand why. I had dripped blood everywhere and I looked like shit while Tank didn't have a scratch on him. Usually it was the other way around. Besides, Tank was still fully clothed except for his weapons while I only wore my combats. Blood had dripped on my chest and the bruising started to show on my ribs and face.

"Is it safe?" Bobby humor. Tank nodded and Bobby walked towards me. I was leaning against the wall for support, holding my hand and pressing an arm against my sore ribs.

"Jesus Tank, what did you do to him?"

"Just fix him" Excellent choice of words Tank, I'm right here. I straightened and help up my two hands. Oh, that movement hurt!

"Listen, I don't really need you Bobby, I'm fine. I'll just go up to take a shower" and to put every icepack I can find on me, but they didn't need to know that.

"Ranger, you're nose is obviously broken and so far I have spotted a dislocated finger and some really deep bruising. You do need me" Okay, maybe I need you, but I don't want this.

"No really…"

"Ric, do we have to force you?" Tank again. Better not go against him, I've learned my lesson today.

"Fine" Bobby walked towards me and looked at my finger first.

"You know the drill" I nodded, and felt a sharp pain and heard a pop when Bobby pulled the finger back in its place.

"Tank, can you get some ice and a few wet towels so I can clean up his face, I can't see half of the damage" Tank walked away, while Bobby started to push against my ribs. It hurt, but not as much as when I had broken my ribs in the Rangers. It did start me coughing again, and I bent forward in pain. Bobby pushed me towards the mat for me to lie down on, and I decided against any resistance. I was beat and beaten.

I was just laying there with my eyes closed when I felt something cold and wet on my face wiping away the blood. I take it Tank had returned. Bobby was careful not to touch my nose too much, but the rest also felt like it was pulp. Then I felt his fingers on my nose, feeling and pushing. I hit his hand away when he pushed on a spot that had me seeing stars again and sharp pains shooting through my face.

"Okay, that is where the fracture is" No shit man.

"Listen Ric, I need to put your nose straight again. I can give you a local anesthetic to take away the edge or put some ice on it to take away some of the pain. It wont take long, but it is a very rotten feeling" Oh great. I get to choose. But here's the thing. I hate needles.

"Ice" An icepack was placed over my nose and someone put pressure on it. I flinched. That hurts.

"Let me tape those ribs in the meantime." I opened one eye and saw that Tank was holding the icepack while Bobby was looking for some tape in his kit. He found it, and he started taping over the bruises on both sides. After he was finished, he also put icepacks on my ribs and taped up my finger. One icepack slid onto my stomach and I flinched from the cold on my warm skin. He grabbed my left shoulder to stop me moving and I stiffened up. Tank really had stretched it to its limits earlier on. Bobby lessened the pressure and started to gently feel around. He scolded at Tank. Ha, take that! Tank simply shrugged. Bobby got some kind of cream from his kit and put it on my shoulder, rubbing it in.

"This will get really warm in a minute, and will help your muscles to heal" I just nodded. Ow, wrong move, Tank still held ice to my nose.

"Right, that nose should have cooled down now. Ready?" Tank moved to sit behind my head and I looked at him.

"Want to grab me again?" I asked him in a teasing tone.

"Just a safety precaution" Mmm, maybe I should have chosen the anesthetic. Tank grabbed my head and Bobby's hands were on my nose again. Suddenly I felt the two pieces of bone being moved by Bobby's hands and it hurt like hell. Stars shot through my vision and pain shot up my nose. I tried to move my head away and a groan escaped me.

"Aargghh" I felt Tanks hands holding my head in place and I fought against my instinct to grab him. Suddenly Bobby let go and the icepack was replaced. Slowly I relaxed again, and Tank let go of my head.

"Okay, I will put a splint on your nose in a minute. Is there anything else that I need to look at?"

"No" I just wanted to get out of here.

"Okay, I will just do some routine checks then" Guess Bobby wasn't convinced. He probed my face, and shone some light in my eyes.

"Sit up, please" I slowly sat up, holding the icepack to my nose. Bobby felt around my kidneys, but apparently decided I was fine because no comments were issued.

"Okay, lay back again" He carefully put the splint on my nose and I knew I would look like a raccoon tomorrow.

"That's it. You should take it easy for a few days, give the ribs a bit of a rest and be careful with that nose. Take some Tylenol against the pain and ice the bruising today." He packed up his kit and with a last glance at Tank and me he left the gym.

I slowly started to get up again, holding ice to my nose while Tank gathered up my clothes and the other icepacks. We walked to the elevator and went up to the 7th floor. Slowly I sat down on the couch. Shit shit shit. I was going to be really sore tomorrow.

"I'm going to take a shower" But I couldn't find the courage yet to get up again from the couch.

"You might want to take it easy the next few days"

"That's rich coming from you" Guess I was still pissed at him.

"Sorry man, but I did what had to be done. I will clear your schedule from any fieldwork for the next few days."

"Okay… thanks." I looked at Tank. He looked at me and a wordless conversation went through the room. At the end, Tank stood up and gave me the two other icepacks for my ribs.

"I'll probably see you later in the control room. I don't think that I have what it takes to convince you to stay in bed today"

I smiled. Probably only Stephanie could convince me to take time off someday.