Title: It's all about living life
Chapter 8: Keys to my …
Author: Ann (Chrystalsandsnowflakes)
Rating: (G to NC-17): G
Spoilers/Warnings: Takes place in the future, so after EOT
Summary: Stephanie finds something of Rangers and returns it to him
Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine, I just play with them

Keys to my …

I spent the afternoon packing up stuff together with Joe. We were never working in the same room for some reason; I guess it was just too much to see each other packing away our life together. I had decided to go through my closet, and suddenly I held a keychain in my hands. It had a few keys, a remote and a fob on it. I suddenly realised what it was. These were my keys from Rangeman, and more specifically from Ranger's apartment! I had never given them back, he had told me to keep them. But I had never used them after I left Rangemen and I would never use them now, we didn't have that kind of relationship anymore. I missed his friendship. The sexual attraction was still there, but not as powerful since I decided to marry Joe. But I did miss him around me, his silent presence. Of course he never broke into the house anymore, and occasionally when I woke up at night and I would remember those times that he did. He had scared me to death but it had made life interesting. There were worse persons to wake up to!

Mmm, guess I better give these back. I was sure he had heard about the divorce now and I didn't want these lying around the house at the moment. I didn't really think that Joe would suddenly think that I had a secret affair with Ranger, but better not tempt fate. And if I kept them with me I would surely loose them and I didn't want to be the one who compromised Rangers safety and security. I flipped my phone open to call him, but then thought the better of it. I would just drive by his office today, I was almost finished with the closet anyway and I was feeling depressed. Also, my mother was expecting me for dinner at 6, so I had to get going anyway. I went back to the living room where I saw Joe sitting in the middle of a stack of cd's, obviously lost in thought. My heart broke a little.

"Eh, I'm going to my parents" Joe looked up at me, a little startled.

"Oh, yeah. See you tomorrow." I walked over to him and gave him a soft kiss. He was still my husband after all. After a moment I straightened up and walked outside to my car.

I arrived at Rangers office a little after 5. I used the remote to get in, and went to the fifth floor. I suppose it would be a little strange to suddenly stand there after 3 years, but it wasn't as if I had never seen the guys again, although not recently. Besides, this was me we're talking about, so they shouldn't expect less.

The elevator opened and I walked in. All conversation ceased. Mmm, I did put on my clothes correctly today, my hair was more or less behaving, I hadn't blown up anything for a very long time now. Oh hang on, major mental head slap: I was getting a divorce! Tank was the first to recover.

"Steph" Guess I didn't blow up enough anymore to be called Bombshell.

"Tank" Two can play this game I thought, smiling internally.

"Can I help you?"

"Yeah, I'm looking for Ranger"

"Ah, I see" I saw some looks going through the room and Tank didn't seem to want to say anything more.

"Where can I find him?"

"Why do you need him?" Mmm, I thought I asked first…

"I need to give him something"

"You can leave it behind, I will make sure he gets…" I felt the hairs at the back of my neck stand up and I heard Rangers voice from behind me.

"Yo Tank, could you…" I had turned around and he had spotted me stopping halfway in his sentence. My god, he looked awful!

"Ranger! Are you okay? What happened to you?" He looked… bruised, in more ways than one.

"I'm fine" Yeah right, that's why you look like a panda bear with those bruises around your eyes.

"What happened? Who did this to you?" I was extremely curious as to who had managed to get the better of Ranger… and if this person was still alive.

"How are you, do you need help with a skip?" Even women managed to change a subject with more subtlety. Mmm, maybe it was a sign that he didn't want to talk about how he turned into a panda bear. I let my eyes wander over his (still) perfect body. Of course he was dressed in badass black with a spray on black t-shirt, but around his ribs it somehow seemed different than before, like something covered his ribs and one of his fingers was taped in. Maybe the person who did this didn't just hit his face, Steph! I couldn't help it, I felt something stir in me. Something deep down in me wanted to take care of him. That's right, I didn't want children, but faced with an injured grown up man I felt the need to take care of him. Guess that is my logic.

"Babe?" Oh shit, I never answered him.

"I wanted to return your keys" I saw the eyebrows of several of his men shooting up in question. Ranger started to raise an eyebrow, but stopped halfway. Probably it didn't feel too good, judging by the condition of his face.

Okay, this was getting really weird. Here I was, facing a group of ex-colleagues who had known me from a time when Ranger and I had been much closer and I knew they had wondered about the nature of our relationship. And now, while I was getting divorced from another man, I came to return his keys. That probably didn't give the right impression. Sigh, I should have thought about this before, but of course I always managed to turn something really simple into something very complicated. How to explain this to his men?

"I found them in my closet today" I offered, but realised that that didn't really help.

"I eh… I was… cleaning and that's when I found them" Better not going into too much detail why I was 'cleaning'. Ranger still just stood there, looking a little surprised.

"I must have forgotten to return them to you after I eh… left Rangemen" Yeah right, nobody of his men would believe that Ranger would forget to ask back the keys that would get me past his security and into his personal apartment. I felt myself starting to blush. I looked a little angry at Ranger, hoping to send out the right vibes. I could use some help here! Ranger seemed to snap out of his little zone and said:

"Why don't you come up to my apartment so we can talk" I saw Tank give him a murderous look. Okay, something going on here. But I would like to talk to Ranger in private, that would make this a little easier.

"Okay"

I followed him up and we entered his apartment. I was still more or less the same as three years ago. I sniffed the faint smell of Bvlgari, still as sexy as ever.

"Would you like a drink?" Boy, were we social today!

"No thanks, I am on my way to my parents for dinner" Ranger turned around and slowly settled on the couch opposite from me. I could see from his face that it was a painful experience.

"Are you sure you're okay?" He really didn't look okay.

"Yeah, I had a little… disagreement with someone that we settled in the gym" Guess this person really didn't agree with him.

"Is he still alive?" I asked smiling. Ranger looked back and smiled a little too. Ouch, even that looked painful to me.

"Yeah, he is alive and kicking" He sounded a little pissed about that and then started to lean further back on the couch, slowly laying his head back. Poor man.

"Don't you need to put some ice on those bruises?" Anybody needs a nurse? Ranger shrugged lightly. I swear this is one of those moments where my brain and body are not connected. I knew I should keep my distance from him, I hadn't seen him for three months until yesterday! But instead I got up from the couch and walked to his freezer and saw that there were 3 icepacks there. I got one out and walked back to him. I was sure he had heard what I was doing, but he still had his eyes closed. I sat down beside him, and was thinking about where to put it first when Ranger spoke:

"Don't touch my nose, please" He opened one eye to look at me.

"Why?" 'Why do you think' my brain said, 'the guy looks like a raccoon!'

"It's broken and I don't want the fracture to move" Oops.

"Okay" In stead I gently put it on his jaw. He flinched a little and moved his face away. Instinctively I placed myself on his lap, a knee at each side of his legs and my hand gently pushed the ice against his jaw again. His eyes were still closed, the side of his face now turned towards me. The quietness was like a soft blanket, because he didn't want to talk about how he got his injuries and I didn't want to talk about me finding the keys because of Morelli and me splitting up. After a few minutes I removed the ice and turned his face to the other side and placed the ice against his bruised cheek. He inhaled sharply through his teeth. Oops. I moved the icepack back a little to give his skin time to adjust to the temperature.

"Sorry" He slowly moved his face so that he could look me in the eyes, pushing his cheek against the ice again.

We were looking at each other, and a million thoughts went through my mind. I had really missed him these past few months. He had always been a good friend. But being this close to him also awoke other feelings, feelings that I thought were no longer there. Feelings that I only had had for Morelli in the past three years. I felt really confused about myself and my feelings for Ranger. Rangers' eyes were full of emotion too. I had never seen him like this, so… so defeated. I had a feeling that the 'disagreement' that had led to the fight was something personal. And the fact that he had gotten the shit beaten out of him probably didn't help his mood. I felt feelings of friendship, wanting to take care of him but also sexual arousal. Our faces seemed to get closer to each other. Wait, they were! Oh shit, I should stop this! But I continued my movement forwards while Ranger was slowly lifting his head of the couch. We both shifted at the same time to be able to get closer and my knee hit his ribs. He stiffened and the spell was broken.

"Babe" he groaned.

I let the breath that I unconsciously had been holding escape. Rangers hand moved my knee away from his ribs and he bent backwards again, taking slow, shallow breaths. I gently lifted his shirt out of his combats and saw the tape on both sides, with some of the bruising showing on the sides of the tape. My god, somebody really got to him. I started to get off his lap, but his hand grabbed my arm. He looked at me again.

"I'm leaving tomorrow" What did he mean: he was leaving? Now, forever, for a few days, leaving the country?

"How do you mean?"

"I finished the buy-out of some of the offices and I am going to spent time with my daughter in Miami."

"How long?" Perfect Stephanie, that sounded a bit demanding.

"I… I don't know yet…" I just looked at him, feeling a bit hurt that he was leaving now that I could use his support.

"I'm sorry, I had no idea about the problems between you and Morelli or I would have stayed"

"You are not responsible for me Ranger, I can take care of myself" Okay, that didn't sound quite right. He looked at me again.

"I'm sorry, that didn't sound the way I meant it. What I meant was that I don't want you to stay around for me, I will be okay. Your daughter needs you."

"I want to be there for you" Ranger said quietly. I gently put a hand on his face, trying not to touch anything bruised.

"You have always been there for me Ranger" I whispered back. I gently leaned forward and gave him a little hug. My mind decided he looked like he could use some hugging. After a second his arms came around my waist and he placed his forehead on my shoulder. We stayed like that for what seemed like eternity, but a couple of minutes probably was more accurate. My hands gently stroked his back. It felt like friends offering each other support. Then, with a soft kiss on his cheek I got up and walked towards the door. The keys were lying on his coffee table.

"Steph, I'm sorry, but I need to go away. I need to clear my mind" We already discussed this, so I guess it was really important for him to repeat it.

"That's okay Ranger. I'll see you when you get back" I hope you don't stay away too long.

"I will be thinking of you"

"I will be thinking of you too" I gently closed the door behind me and took a deep breath. I wasn't sure whether me returning the keys had closed something off, or had started something new.