Title: It's all about living life
Chapter 21: Meanwhile in Trenton… Ranger
Author: Ann (Chrystalsandsnowflakes)
Rating: (G to NC-17): G
Spoilers/Warnings: Takes place in the future, so after EOT
Summary: Let's not forget about the others!
Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine, I just play with them. More to come soon. Thanks for the reviews!

Meanwhile in Trenton… Ranger

I opened the door to my apartment and against my usual calm self I kicked it closed while throwing my keys in the dish. I hated these types of days. They were long, unproductive and tiring. Normally I would have made sure to 'accidentally' meet up with Stephanie on a day like this, but that wasn't possible right now, since she was still on her trip. And that trip seemed to be quite an extended one. I had tried to covertly get some information, but all it got me was a plane ticket to Canada, a rental car and a one night motel stay. Then all trails stopped. Or at least the ones I could pursue without her finding out. So I had no idea where she was, or what she was doing. I did confess that I had made it a habit to scan for strange newspaper articles from Canada and the border region, but so far nothing had turned up. I was restless, I felt the need to search for her, to make sure she was alright. But she had made it perfectly clear that there would be consequences. Consequences I didn't want to happen. So I was restricted in what I could or couldn't do. And that only added to my current frame of mind. This morning I had started early, with a run at 5 am in stead of 6 am because my work started at 6 today.

6 am: meeting about a redecorating job

7 am: redecorating a 'lovely' apartment filled with junk and junkies

8 am: back in the office, checking mail

9 am: meeting with a new client

10 am: new client accepted, but almost had to have her removed from the property for indecent behaviour, her hands were everywhere when she had the chance

10.12 am: emergency call from Ram. Capture of FTA went bad. Hal got stun gunned (again!) but everybody is okay.

11 am: meeting with lawyer and business manager about the strategy for Rangemen.

12 am: lunch! Finally, halfway through the day. Those meetings aren't a favourite part of business.

1 pm: paperwork, paperwork, paperwork. This own business thing is great but the paperwork is something I hate

2.14 pm: Yes, a call for my assistance, a break from paperwork

3.02 pm: huge problems at one of our customers. It is a jewellery store they tried to rob. Nobody injured, but they did manage to take a few very valuable items and they were very violent towards the people in the store. Arranged everything at the scene, gave the tapes to the cops and started looking for the robbers.

5 pm: quick bite to eat and then off with Tank for surveillance. FTA should get home around 5.30 pm, so we hope to catch him then.

10 pm: FTA didn't show and I'm tired. We didn't catch the robbers yet, we only had 1 capture today and it just didn't feel as a good day. I missed Steph. I decided to end this day.

"Don't think he's coming anymore." Tank sighed.

"No, don't think so. Where did we get that info from?" I almost felt guilty.

"Informant." Tank wasn't fooled.

"Whose informant?" Damn.

"Mine." I could feel Tank looking at me and smiling a little.

"You can take that smile of your face." This made him laugh.

"Oh, come on, Ranger." I had to smile too. This didn't happen often to me. My informants knew they better give me good info or they had a problem. I paid good money for those tips, it was an integral part of being successful in this kind of work. Looking at the time I was surprised I had waited so long anyway. I could have known around 7pm or 8pm that he wasn't going to show. My mind must have been elsewhere.

"Heard anything from Steph yet?" Tank doesn't know the word subtle.

"No." Tank nodded in understanding.

"She'll be back one day." That's easy for you to say.

"Yeah."

When we came to the building I was feeling tired, but knew I couldn't sleep for another hour or two, I had too much on my mind.

"I'm going to the gym for an hour or so. See you tomorrow." Tank would crash in one of the apartments on the 4th floor tonight. He had a house of his own, but it was about 30 minute drive away. When we worked late, he preferred to stay in an apartment and we would run together at 6 tomorrow morning.

"Need a sparring partner?" Dangerous proposition. I wasn't sharp tonight, but knew that a good work out with Tank would let me blow off enough steam to fall asleep when I got to the apartment.

"Sure."

After 75 minutes we called it quits. We had warmed up together and after a few rounds with weights we went into the boxing ring. There we had proceeded to knock the hell out of each other (guess Tank didn't like waiting for 5 hours for an FTA that didn't show either) but due to the protective clear we didn't have a mark on us. Well, a bit of bruising probably, but nothing that would prevent us from doing our job. I was feeling good and finally a bit relaxed when I went to my phone and saw I had a message. It was Morelli.

"Hi, it's Morelli. Listen, eh, Steph asked me to tell you that she is doing well. (silence) Well, that's it. Bye." And back was my pissy mood…