Chapter 33:

When Tank played the tape for the first time, I immediately realized what I was hearing. This was what I had heard this afternoon, or at least Ranger's side of this conversation. My mind dazzled, and I was glad that Tank played it another time, so I had some time to absorb this information. Then, when Tank softly started talking to me, it became completely clear to me what had happened this afternoon. And also what that meant, namely that I hadn't heard Ranger's answer to my question. When Tank asked me if I wanted to stay and hear his answer, a small part of me wanted to say 'no', to protect myself from more disappointment. But soon I realized that I needed to hear his answer, positive or negative and when I thought about it, I didn't think that Ranger would go through all this trouble, just to tell me no again. I felt my hope grow, but even though my hands were untied now, I couldn't get myself to take off the blindfold yet. I couldn't look at Ranger until I knew his answer. It felt comfortable to have Tanks hands on my shoulders and he gave me a little squeeze. I just felt so tense, I felt like I was frozen in place and time. It seemed like an eternity, but then I heard his voice from beside me.

"Yes." I shot up. My head was full of turmoil, I couldn't believe it. He had said yes, he DID want a relationship! He softly continued.

"My answer is and always has been 'yes', Babe. I would love nothing more than to share my life with you." All the relief and happiness and emotions that I felt came out in one whoosh, that sounded something like a sob and laugh. I felt Tank untie the blindfold and while he slowly pulled the blindfold away from my eyes, I heard him whisper.

"Welcome to the Batcave, Stephanie."

It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the lighting and then I saw him. He was leaning against a table, his whole body radiating emotion and relief. His eyes were dilated black and full of emotion too. Our eyes met and the next second I was up and in his arms. I threw my arms around his neck and buried my face deep in his neck, feeling happiness flowing through me. His left arm came around my shoulders, drawing me close to him and he buried his head in my hair. All the hurt and pain from this afternoon left me with two last tears that leaked out of my eyes.

"I really thought I lost you this afternoon," Ranger whispered hoarsely in my hair.

"Me too," I whispered back, and squeezed him tighter, reveling in the feeling of holding him in my arms.

"I'll never let you go again, Babe." His voice had gotten a playful tone to it, and I withdrew my head to look at his face to see what he was up to.

"Remember, the Batcave is forever," and he gave me the most dazzling smile. I looked around me and realized for the first time that I must be in the Batcave. I smiled back at Ranger and our lips met for a slow and sensual kiss.

"Wouldn't want it any other way, Ranger," I said and we kissed some more. He was still wearing his sling, and his right arm was wedged between our bodies. I looked at his cast.

"You never told me what happened." The moment I said it, I could feel him tense up a little. For a fraction of a second I could see a conflict going on in his head before he put on his blank face and opened his mouth to answer me.

"Accident." Yeah right… I felt that there was more to this story. I started kissing his neck until I reached his ear and then gently bit his earlobe. I could feel his body react.

"There is more and I know it. Trust me, Ranger. Tell me," I whispered in his ear and then went on with giving his neck little kisses, licks and bites. I heard his sharp intake of breath and knew I was doing something right.

"I hit a wall." His breath came out in a whoosh, while he was turning his head to the side to give me better access. I nibbled across his jaw and continued.

"How did that happen?" Kiss, nibble, kiss, lick. Another shuddering breath from Ranger.

"I was upset." I kissed my way to the other side of his neck, and he moved his head to accommodate me.

"What were you upset about?" I took his other earlobe in my mouth and sucked on it.

"Babe…" he moaned, trying to resist answering me. I scraped my teeth over his earlobe while I let it escape from my mouth and moved on to the area where his neck and shoulder met.

"Tell me, Ranger," I whispered and sucked some flesh into my mouth, gently holding it between my teeth and stopped moving, letting him know that I would continue my delicious torture if he would answer my question. I could feel him resisting for a moment and then felt his body relax and give in to me. I loved this. Ranger could probably hold up through countless forms of torture, but he had no resistance against this type of interrogation.

"I got your card." The answer startled me and in a reflex I bit down. I heard his sharp intake of breath and relaxed my jaw again. Oops! I felt a guilty feeling surge through me. I felt responsible now for the damage to his hand. If I hadn't sent that card Ranger wouldn't be wearing this cast. What had he said again? Broken wrist and two cracked bones? Shit. But Ranger pulled back and with his left hand he raised my face up to meet his steady gaze.

"It was an accident, it's not your fault. If it was anybodies fault, it was mine. I should watch what I hit." Mmm, well… I suppose so then. Our lips met for a kiss and I cuddled closer to him. I could feel him wanting to move the right arm, but being stopped by the sling. He pulled back.

"I do hate wearing this sling though, it limits me," he said, the sexy undertone indicating what he was really talking about.

I gave him a sexy look and said in my most suggestive voice:

"Then why don't you let me do the work."

"Ahem," Tank coughed. Oops, I had completely forgotten that Tank was still here. I turned around and Ranger pulled me back against him, his front to my back. I leaned into him while smiling at Tank.

"Thank you… for everything," I said seriously.

"You're welcome, Bombshell." Tank looked at Ranger, and a wordless conversation happened between them, ending with a smile from both of them while they looked at me. Right.

"There is a bag with some clothes for you in the hall. I'll be leaving now, some people actually have work to do." He smirked at us and we all walked to the door. I waved when he drove off and then turned to Ranger.

"So this is the Batcave, huh?" He nodded.

"Want to explore?" Oh yeah!

"Come on." Ranger grabbed my hand and walked me back into the living room. The house looked like a cabin. Lots of wood and lots of glass. It gave it a very warm and open feeling, very homey.

"I got it about 2 years ago. The apartment is nice, but I'm never really away from work there. So I had started looking for houses. I wanted something with some land around it, but not too far from the city. After about a year I found this. The house was already there, but it had been neglected and was in need of a lot of modernizing. The garden looked like a forest. For one summer I spend all my free time doing it up. I had some people helping me fitting the new kitchen and bathroom and so on, but all the cleaning, sanding, painting and decorating I did myself." I nodded and looked around. There was a wooden floor throughout the first floor. The living room was open plan and looked very spacious because of the glass. There was a large L shaped couch in a dark blue color with some big pillows on it and a low coffee table. Behind it there was a large open book case, shaped like a big square and then divided into smaller squares. Some shelves contained books, others had pictures or small objects. I looked at the pictures and saw that there were a few of Ranger with different groups of men around him that were obviously from his army time. Young men in army clothes, army haircut and army weapons. They looked dangerous and mighty attractive. Also there were pictures of what looked like family members and one of him and his daughter together and to my surprise there was one of us together as well. It looked like Ranger was pointing something out to me and we were both smiling. My back to his front, one arm around me, our heads close to each other and his other arm stretched out, pointing. I looked at Ranger and he answered my unspoken question.

"Lester made it. He was following a particular person and I had ordered him to take pictures of all other persons that this particular person met with to see if we could identify anybody, when he saw us. It was the first time that he had seen me together with a woman for a long time and he took the picture to ask the guys about you. But he had forgotten about it, so he had added all the pictures to the file that we were going to discuss in a meeting without looking at them again. Imagine my surprise when one moment I am looking at pictures of a suspicious meeting and the next this picture shows up on the projector for all my men to see. Lester earned himself a month of night shifts and I told him to delete the file from the computer network, but the damage was done. It didn't take long for them to figure out who you were and what my feelings for you were. I've never seen the picture again at Rangeman, but I did keep a copy for myself." He smiled and then gestured at the little objects on the shelves.

"Those are gifts from people I met and souvenirs I bought at places that I visited, either during my time in the army or later in life."

"Where are they from?" I asked.

"All over the world, really. Africa, Asia, Europe, South America. I spent quite some time abroad during my army years and used some of my holidays to travel." I nodded and looked further around the room. There was a nice wood burning fire place and a large dinner table with 6 chairs around it. I walked on and looked at the kitchen. It was done in a sort of modern country style and looked very nice. Ranger grabbed my hand and pulled into the hall again. He opened one door to reveal an office with lots of high tech equipment, computers, a few monitors showing the grounds around the house, printer, phone and fax. There was a desk and a small round table with 4 chairs around it. He steered me out of the room again and then pointed to the only other door on the first floor.

"Toilet." Then he proceeded to walk up the stairs and I followed him. When we came to the top of the stairs I grasped. The stairs were ending about halfway on one side of the room under the roof. The bedroom opened right off the top of the stairs. Because of the sloping roof it felt very cozy. Thick carpet on the floor in a deep brown. To my left, the whole front of the room was glass and gave a beautiful view of the garden. No other house was visible. The bed was positioned in front of the windows so that you could look outside. A few low chests with drawers were standing along the walls on both sides and a side table on each side of the bed. I looked to my right and saw that there was a custom made closet standing at a right angle that made a sort of wall separating the part of the room that contained the bed and the space in front of it. The cupboard came to halfway across the room and had a triangular shape because of the roof. Everything was done in dark brown wood and bright blue sheets were on the bed, giving the room a warm and intimate feeling. A chair was standing about a meter in front of it, on the side of the room and a t-shirt was laying on top of it. This was his dressing area. There was a door in the wall to the right of to the stairs and I opened it to find a modern bathroom in black and white. Again, the side of the room was made of glass, overlooking the garden. There was an expensive looking shower with lots of shower heads and other gadgets on the left side. I guessed it also was a steam cabin. The large tub was positioned in front of the window and had lots of jets. A toilet was on the other side of the door. Black and white towels on a design radiator and a thick robe on a hook in the wall. Very nice, very Ranger. Overall, the house gave a feeling of warmth and relaxation. Modern, comfortable and personal. I turned around and put my arms around his neck, giving him a quick kiss on his lips.

"Do you like it?" Ranger asked me.

"I love it, this is really you." He smiled and we kissed some more.

"Come on, let's go back downstairs." Ranger gently guided me down the stairs again. When we entered the living room again, I noticed the candles and flowers. Very romantic, very nice. We snuggled up on the couch and were silent for a moment, still coming to terms with the emotional rollercoaster that was today. I looked at Ranger and leaned in for a long and deep kiss. After we pulled apart I whispered the only thing went through my mind right now.

"I love you." Ranger's eyes widened a little bit and then the happiest smile spread across his face.

"I love you too."

We spend almost a week at the house before emerging again. Steph made good on her promise 'to do all the work' because of the cast, but Ranger liked to think that he wasn't doing so bad himself anyway. Still, he couldn't wait to have full use of his right hand again…

TBC