All characters belong to Janet. Mistakes are solely mine. Warning for a little bit of bedroom fun.

"Oh, fuck it," I said to my apartment.

I may lose my Rangeman privileges over this, but I can't help it. I have to do something. I picked up my cell again and hit a number that even I can admit I never should've been given.

"Ranger gave you my number for emergency purposes only …" Tank reminded me.

I've called him so often in the last three days, I don't even warrant a 'Hello' or even a 'What?' anymore.

"This is an emergency … Ranger should be home by now and he hasn't materialized behind me yet."

Sure ... that's totally irrational, but I've never thought rationally when it came to Ranger.

I could hear phone silence, but I know Tank didn't hang up. He's likely just grinding his teeth or counting to twenty again.

"I told you that he could be back soon," he finally said.

"Be back soon means two days tops. Four if there's a problem. Everyone knows that!"

"Guess no one told the government, since they don't give a shit about time unless it involves their use of it."

"But I have a bad feeling ..."

"Which I bet is the result of that midnight snack run you made last night. Cal said thanks again for the coffee and Snickers bar you bought him."

"If he got stuck having to watch out for me, he shouldn't have to do it hungry or un-caffeinated."

He wanted to sigh, I can tell. "It's too early to worry, Steph."

Now I was grinding my molars and counting to twenty. "Too late. I've been worried since Ranger kissed me goodbye and said we need to talk when the wind blew him back to me."

"So you're not worried about him breathing or not, you're driving me nuts because you're scared about him wantin' to talk," he stated, not asked.

"I'm worried about both, one obviously way more than the other. He has to be okay, I'm not accepting anything else. So … have you heard from him?"

"No. Like I told you an hour ago, no word yet."

I swear the drop in my mood could register as a 4.7 on the Richter scale. "Okay … thanks."

Being Ranger's best friend, he took pity on me. "He'll come back, if only to see you. Don't fuck everything up by panicking now."

Sometimes I miss the 'Tank doesn't talk' days, but today isn't one of them. "Thank you. I really needed to hear that." I paused and then said something I wish Batman could hear. "I miss him."

"I know. And this time he knows you're here waiting for him to return."

"I hope so. I'll try not to bother you again."

"Unl …"

"Yeah, yeah … unless I'm being threatened or tortured. I got it. If you hea …"

"You'll be the first one I call if he contacts me."

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly … not wanting to hang up and be all alone again, feel all alone even more.

"He's probably not in cell range or is gettin' debriefed," Tank said, filling the silence.

He knew I needed a nugget of hope to hold onto.

"Sure. I know that's all it is. I'll let you get back to work."

I let the poor guy off the hook and disconnected.

I stared at Rex. "Why can't you be more distracting?" I asked him. "I need something to do - or watch - that'll get my mind off of Ranger bleeding or dying somewhere I can't get to."

Rex put old silent-Tank to shame. Not only did my roommate not talk or reassure me ... he gave me a beady-eyed look, stuck a grape in his cheek, and ran back into his soup can so I couldn't ruin his dinner by continuing to complain to him.

A woman could get a complex around here.

"Fine. I can amuse and distract myself, all by myself. I just need fries and a Coke to do it."

I don't have a hangover, but not sleeping well since Ranger left has had the same effect on me as downing a bottle of wine on an empty stomach. I grabbed my car keys and my shoulder bag and headed out the door. I needed something to do and hitting a McDonald's drive-thru sounded productive. To make sure 'The Cure' wouldn't be wasted, I drove to the Shop n Bag first and bought a bottle of Cabernet from an encouraging 'Grow A Pair' vineyard, plus a decorated birthday cake. I was telling myself that the cake is to celebrate Ranger being home, but my head and heart know that it's likely going to be needed when he doesn't show up until well after I've stopped expecting him to.

I shook that thought away and made small talk with the checker who understood that my purchases inspire either sympathy or envy. I put the bag on my passenger's seat and then got a large fry and even larger Coke before heading back to my apartment. I parked in the back near the Dumpster, because what's a better visual metaphor for how I've been feeling, and gathered my shoulder and food bags.

I locked my POS and turned to go inside, only realizing that when I'd taken two steps towards my building the lights in my apartment window look different than when I'd left. I think. Hell, maybe I'm just wishing Ranger back so bad, I'm hallucinating. Either way, I rushed into my building and skipped the elevator, believing that the adrenaline pumping at the thought of seeing Ranger again would propel me up the stairs faster than any elevator could.

My door was still locked when I tried opening it, but that isn't a surprise. He would never leave my door vulnerable even if he was inside guarding Rex. It's a weird security quirk with him. I put my shoulder, take-out, and grocery store bags down on the hall carpet so I had both hands free to get inside faster. I barely heard the deadbolt switch to unlocked before I shoved the door wide open and looked expectantly towards the couch, Ranger's preferred place to wait for me to come home.

But like it was when I left, my apartment's empty aside from Rex and another huge heap of disappointment.

"I guess it's just the two of us again. Sorry, Rex, you're cute and all, but you aren't Ranger."

I sighed and then went back to my door to get the stuff I'd abandoned in hopes of enjoying something better tonight. Looks like I'm going to need everything I bought in order to make it through the night. I put everything on the counter beside my hamster's cage and grabbed a handful of fries to eat while I searched my junk drawer for my corkscrew. Maybe the alcohol will allow me to actually sleep for a few hours in a row. I figured sipping simultaneously from my wine glass and the straw now poking out of my soda, I could control how awful I'm going to feel tomorrow morning. I got the cork out of the bottle and a generous glass poured, but before I could lift my glass up for a healthy gulp, hard arms slid around me from behind.

All I could think at that moment was Ranger must've ordered my neck not to give him away. I count on that tingle to tell me he's nearby. I'd completely given up on seeing him tonight after my couch remained unoccupied, I didn't think I needed to check out the rest of my apartment for hidden superheroes. That was really stupid from a safety standpoint, anyone could've been hiding out in here, but I was so miserable and worried ... I couldn't think past not seeing Ranger's big body lounging in my living room.

"Fries and cake will kill you, Babe," he whispered against my neck.

"Not as quickly as worrying about you will," I answered before turning around in his arms. "Are you okay? Are you hurt? You're home for more than a night, aren't you?"

"Take a breath," he ordered me.

I did, but that only made me more anxious. He doesn't smell like Bulgari shower gel. He smells nice, but not like him. Logically, I know you can't pack a toiletry bag full of your favorites when you're readying for battle at a moment's notice, but he feels so familiar yet seems so different at the same time. I was having trouble balancing past and present Ranger in my mind.

"Maybe I can now that you're home," I said, not sure what else to say. "I have a scary idea of what you do, and I'm grateful that you do it, but I wasn't fully prepared for how I'd be feeling while you were gone."

We were together before he left, but not in a spoken out loud, official capacity. He brushed his lips across mine before folding me inside a hug I never want to pry myself out of.

"I told you I'd be back," he reminded me.

"Tank said the same thing, and I doubted him too. I know you're Batman, but even a superhero isn't bulletproof. I felt every day of this past week. I didn't notice how much of my life involves you until you weren't here participating in it."

What's really annoying is while he has dark shadows under and in his eyes, and they appear more guarded than when he'd left, he still looks a million times better than I do.

That eyebrow of his was raising. God, I even missed that look. "One would think that means you missed me."

I'm well beyond games and lies. I just wanted him back in my apartment, and here he is ... like I'd summoned him with the sheer force of my will. I'm not stupid enough to waste this opportunity or any of our time together.

"I did, though 'missed' isn't a strong enough word for what I was feeling. You said before you left that we need to talk, but I think it's just me who needs to. I missed you, I worried about you, and I'm considering whether or not I can get your Mom or your Superior to ground you so you can't leave me again, but mostly … I'm just so frickin' glad you're back. I'm even happier knowing that you will keep coming back to me. I want what we have to be permanent and the time between missions to be spent together ... when we're not stuck working, I mean."

He didn't seem surprised, annoyed, or worried about me asking for a commitment. He just asked a one-word, three-letter question that cut through all the bullshit.

"Why?"

"Because I missed you and I'm convinced Tank contemplated putting a bullet in me just so I couldn't call him and ask if he's heard from you. I was getting a little antsy having no idea if you were safe or not."

He tucked a curl behind my ear and I had to resist the urge to start purring or moaning at the feel of his fingers on me.

"Is that it?"

I realized then that I'm being 'encouraged' to spill my guts without even realizing that was his intent.

"I would've thought you'd take off your interrogator cap before you touched down," I hedged.

He reeled me in and just held my body tight again. "You'd think wrong. I'm trained not to stop until I get all the information I'm after."

"And me admitting to loving the crap out of you is what you were after even before you left town?"

"Yes. Are you ready to indulge me now that I got myself safely home to you?"'

I didn't even have to think about it. "Yes. I love you, Batman … and I never want to stop."

His mouth returned to mine for a kiss before he pulled back only far enough for his lips to brush mine when he spoke. "Good thing you don't have to. Even if I have to leave again, you'll always be my motivation to get my ass back to Trenton as quickly as possible."

I didn't know what to say to that, so I just shoved my fingers through his short but still silky hair and brought his mouth back to mine. His tongue found mine, and as his arms immediately snaked around me ... my legs wound around his hips as if they had a mind and a mission all of their own.

That was all it took. His kiss became more aggressive and my crossed ankles didn't stop nudging him until he took us out of my kitchen and into my bedroom. Even knowing my bed was underneath me, I didn't want to release my hold on him. He appears and disappears like smoke, so my fear wasn't baseless. He solved that problem by just following my body down to the bed with me.

I should be concerned about how little 'prompting' I need with him, but I was suddenly grateful for only requiring his hands unbuttoning and unzipping my jeans to be ready for liftoff. Of course being Ranger … me just being hot for him isn't nearly enough. He prefers me on the brink of actually begging for him before he'd congratulate himself on a job well done and give into what we were both desperate for.

My clothes were gone before I noticed his hands had their way with my shirt and bra as well, mainly because he kept kissing me like he couldn't get enough. Maybe he missed me every bit as much as I missed him. One hand between my legs while his mouth stayed fused to mine - until he correctly guessed that my breasts were jealous of my lips - was physical torture, but I exacted my own revenge as soon as I got most of his clothes off him.

I wrapped my legs around thighs strong enough to crush a Volkswagen Bug, and used everything except smoke signals to tell him that I need him inside me NOW. After a few extra minutes of touching, kissing, and hyper-sensitizing my skin, he let me wrap my hand around him and slide him exactly where we both needed him to be. As I arched up into his chest in response to the first full thrust of his hips, I promised us that this is it. We'll always be together like this in our hearts and our minds whether he's here in Trenton or almost seven-thousand miles away from it.