I woke with a start. Déjà vu. The last time I woke up feeling like this, I woke up married. That was a good feeling. However, this time it doesn't feel like a good feeling. Keep my eyes closed, I maintained my breathing and took stock of my surroundings. I can hear my wife breathing next to me, so I know it has nothing to do with her.

I can hear the ticking of the clock my grandfather made for me when I entered the Army. It's in my bedroom where it will always stay. Then I hear it. There is someone else in the room with us. I know this is wrong since we are in a secure building, but damn it. I don't need people breaking into my place. I'm sick of it. So, I do the only thing I can think of. In the blink of an eye, I have my gun from under my pillow, the safety off, and the hammer cocked.

"Stand down, Soldier," I hear from where my gun is pointed.

Opening my eyes, I see my aim is still as good as ever. Without even looking, I have my gun aimed right between his eyes. I know I'll catch hell for this later, but he needs to know he cannot break into my place anytime he wants. "What the fuck are you doing here?" I demand as quietly as I can yet still allowing the anger to shine through.

"I just arrived and came to check on Steph," he said as he looked at her stretched out in my bed.

"As you can see, she is being taken care of. This could have waited until morning."

Before either of us could say anything else, Steph let us know she was awake. "Ranger? What the hell are you doing here? It's… what time is it?" she asked me.

Looking at the clock, I groaned, "It's two oh seven."

Steph lifted her head, glared at Ranger, and yelled, "Get the hell out of here. You know I don't like being awakened before eight. And who in the hell gave you permission to break into our place?"

Ranger's blank faced slammed down, he pivoted on his heel, and left the room. I was tempted to follow him to make sure he actually left, but I didn't think he'd appreciate seeing what I was, or wasn't, wearing.

Instead, I turned to face my wife and kissed her deeply, "You have no idea what you just said, do you?"

I could see her running through her conversation in her head and when she got to her last sentence, I knew she'd realized it. "Shit. He's going to demand an explanation tomorrow, isn't he?" Smiling, I nodded. "Oh well. He has no say in my life anymore. Now, let's get some more sleep."

At six, my body was screaming at me to get up and go work out. As much as I wanted to stay there with my wife and watch her wake up, I knew I needed to do this. For more reasons than one. I hate missing my workout. I needed to deal with Ranger. Alone. Before Steph. So, with extreme reluctance, I forced my body out of bed and slipped on my workout gear. After I hit the head, I wandered down to the gym and wasn't surprised to see Ranger there.

I was, however, surprised to see him sparing with Tank. Or was he trying to kill him? Either way, I had a feeling that the punches Tank was currently receiving were meant for me. I guess Tank had finally had enough as he landed a solid punch to Ranger and I saw Ranger bounce off the floor.

Deciding it was my turn, I stepped up to the ring. "How's Steph?" Tank asked as he waited for Ranger to get up.

"Sleeping," I replied. I watched as Ranger shook his head; probably to clear the stars from floating around. "How's he?"

Tank shrugged, "He'll live this time, but he pulls that shit with me again and I won't make promises." Tank climbed out of the ring, grabbed his towel, and headed for the showers. Now is as good a time as any I thought and stupidly climbed into the ring.

"You want to explain Stephanie's comment from this morning?"

Did I want to? No. Was I going to? Hell no. I know better than to get on my wife's bad side. She said she wanted to talk to him and let him know about our wedding, so I'm leaving anything to do with our relationship alone. Call me a coward, but I'm not. I just know how to respect my wife's wishes.

I kept my mouth shut and waited. I knew he couldn't last for long. The silence was worse than an answer for him. I counted to about three and felt the punch. At least now I had a reason for hitting him. You know, other than the reason of him hurting Stephanie.

I'm not sure how long he and I went around, but suddenly the air in the gym changed and I wondered why. Of course, I didn't have to wonder for long when I heard, "Ricardo Carlos Manoso," followed by, "Matthew Adrian Cooper."

Fuuuuuuck meeeeee. She's awake. If she's awake, that means we've been down here for a few hours. Either that or someone woke her up to come stop us. Just as I pulled my punch, I saw chair at the side of the ring.

"What the hell is going on?" she yelled as she looked back and forth between boss man and myself. I sure as hell wasn't going to be the first to answer. I learned a long-time ago from my momma that the first one to answer gets the most punishment.

"Well?" she asked as she drummed her fingers on the wheelchair and glared at us. Who the hell got her out of the bed, dressed her, and brought her down? I need to find out who and why.

"Babe." Oh man, he's in for a world of tongue lashing and I don't mean the good kind.

"Ranger." She glanced at me and back to him. "I asked a question and expect an answer. What the hell is going on?"

"Binkie and I were just having a discussion."

"Wrong answer. Try again."

Oh damn. I've never really looked at her when she's pissed but fuck me she's hot. "We were sparring?"

What the fuck was that? Was he asking her what we were doing or telling her? Jesus Christ. I thought he had a pair… when did he lose them?

"Yeah, you were sparring and I was just running laps." Damn, how the hell do I keep a straight face when she's like that? Just hearing her when she's pissed is enough to make me hard.

"Now," she stated calmly, "I want to know what you two were discussing because if it has anything to do with me, you know you need to talk to me and no one else."

Ranger, with hands on his hips, hung his head and sighed. Yes, the world has stopped turning. Hell has frozen over. Country music has been abolished. Folks, Stephanie has broken Batman and made him sigh.

"Steph, I just wanted to know why you were in Binkie's apartment and not up on seven. I've always told you that you are free to go there anytime you need."

"And how was I supposed to get things done? I can't walk, I can't even wheel myself around. And why the hell would I want to be in your apartment? Before you left on your mission, you told me that all we'll ever be is friends. I've moved on, Ranger. It's time you did, too."

Ranger looked at Stephanie and I saw the hurt in his eyes. He knew what she was saying was true but he didn't want to accept it. Well, tough shit soldier. You gave her up and I helped her heal. She's mine now.

"Moved on?" She nodded. "Can I ask who the lucky guy is? I know it's not the cop; if it were, you'd not be here."

"Joe and I were done before you ever left for your mission. But, you already know that. As for the lucky guy? Who said he's the lucky one? Maybe I'm the lucky one in the relationship." I had to smile at that. Honestly, I think we are both lucky. We complete each other like no one else could. I must have been smiling for too long. Next think I know, my ass is on the ground and my jaw is sore. What the fuck?

I heard Stephanie yelling, "Damn it, Ranger. Get the fuck off him!" as I felt another punch to my jaw. Fuck, that's going to be sore for a while.

I felt the mat bounce and Ranger was pulled off me. I looked up to see Tank holding Ranger in a choke hold and Bobby rushing to my side. "I'm fine. What the hell happened?" I asked him.

"Guess Bossman figured out who Steph was seeing. I don't think he likes it."

"Yeah, well, he needs to get use to the idea. I'm not leaving her." I threw Bobby's hands off me and slid off the mat. Standing up, I went to Steph's chair and kneeled down in front. "Are you okay?" I quietly asked as I wiped the tears off her face.

"Take me back to the apartment?" she asked as she closed her eyes.

Standing up, I turned to Tank and Ranger, "I'm off for the rest of the day. I need to take care of Steph."

Tank nodded and held Ranger tighter as he struggled to get away. Guess he was really pissed that he lost Steph. Shit, what's he going to do when he finds out we're married? Guess we'll get there later.

Back up in the apartment, I looked at my wife. "Who got you out of bed and dressed?" I asked as I grabbed two water bottles.

"I woke up and you were gone. I waited, but it seemed like it had been hours, so I called Bobby. I was going to call Les to help me up, but then remembered he's gone. I figured Bobby was the safest bet since he's a doctor."

I had to laugh at that. "Yeah, you're one hundred percent correct on that one, Honey!" Setting my water down, I reached for her hand, 'I'm sorry for fighting with Ranger."

"I'm not worried about you fighting with him. I knew that was going to happen. I'm just pissed that I wasn't the first to talk to him."

Huh? "Why?"

"Well," she hesitated. "I have a feeling when he finds out about us being married, that he's going to be calling you to the mats again. I don't want that to happen."

"I'm sure it will and I can take it. I know he's pissed he lost you and has to take it out on someone. But I can promise you this… he will NEVER hurt you. I won't allow it. I know you can handle yourself, but I won't stand around and watch him hurt you."

"He'd never hurt me," she said, and I cut her off.

"Didn't he hurt you less than a year ago?"

Nodding, she said, "But that's different. He'd never physic…"

"I know he'd never physically hurt you, but there are all kinds of hurt out there. I won't stand for him hurting you in ANY way. I love you."

"I love you, too."

Before we could say anything else, my phone rang. Figuring it was one of the guys, I didn't look at the display before I answered, "Yeah?"

"Is that anyway to answer the phone?"

FUCK! I knew I should have looked at the display…