All familiar characters and phrases belong to Janet. The inevitable mistakes are all mine.

Chapter 2

Tank answered before the first ring had even finished. Of course he would, since it's Ranger's cell I was using to call him.

"How're you doing?" He asked.

"I'm actually doing great now. Thanks for asking," I told Ranger's BFF.

"Stephanie?"

"Yeah."

"You have access to Ranger's phone?"

Shit. I should've known that would worry him. Stupid rookie mistake.

"Ranger's doing alright enough to let me mess with you a bit by allowing me to call you on the Batline," I quickly told Tank. "I just wanted to tell you that he is with me in all ways, and we're actually going away together for the weekend. Can you get someone to take care of Rex for me? I'm not about to subject the Boss to my family or I'd just drop my roommate off with Grandma Mazur on our way out of Trenton."

"Babe."

I flashed my eyebrows at Ranger. "What? What you need is peace right now, not more crazy ... which is what my family is."

"I'll handle it," Tank told me.

"Handle him you mean," I corrected. "Rex isn't an it."

"You watch over Ranger and I'll take care of the rat."

That's about all I'm going to get with Tank. My hamster may not get the respect he deserves, but at least I know he'll be kept alive while I'm gone.

"I was planning on taking excellent care of Ranger regardless ... but thanks for babysitting Rex while I do."

Tank paused and I got a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. To call him 'quiet' would be an understatement as big as he and his presence are, but I can literally feel the heaviness of his silence now.

"Tank?" I pressed.

"Don't let anything happen to him," he said after another weighted pause.

"Nothing bad will happen to him on my watch. I promise."

I can see him nod in my mind, which is good I guess because he disconnected without warning or any kind of recognizable goodbye. I figured the mental head-bob was probably his way of saying 'It was nice speaking with you, Ms. Plum. Have a lovely weekend'.

"I'm putting in a formal request that Rangeman start making classes on phone etiquette mandatory," I said to Ranger.

"He's worse than my mother at times," he replied, picking up the bag I'd crammed half of my closet and three-quarters of my bathroom sink into.

"As people have said about me, you've given him plenty of opportunities to worry. Your entire life is an emergency response call."

"I haven't heard my career described that way before, but it's fairly accurate."

He opened my door and waited for me to pass him and head into the hall.

I had one thing to do before I left. "Rex, please be a good guy. Okay? DO NOT bite anyone, no matter how annoying Lester gets."

I know I'll be getting a text by Saturday afternoon with a picture of Lester holding Rex and him captioning it with something that's going to bug me, that will then lead to Ella texting that Lester's only joking and that Rex is fine. I wanted to head that three-way conversation off by telling Rex to behave. My hamster has never listened to me before, but as today's proven ... there's a first time for everything.

Ranger stashed my bag hopefully where my caramel apple rolls are hiding in his trunk and started the engine.

"Do I need to be blindfolded for the drive ahead?" I asked, just to keep the mood as light as I could.

I can see a small smile lurking in his eyes. "No. There are so many back roads to navigate, you won't be able to find the house even if you have my GPS guiding you."

After the thirty-three minute drive, I realized that he hadn't been kidding like I'd been. We were parking in the driveway for the safe house two seconds after my brain even registered that there's actually a house here. No surprise, Ranger was right. If the trees changing from plain 'ol green to multiple reds, yellows, and oranges, can make even Trenton look almost decent for one month out of the year, this place is a page ripped straight outta one of Lisa's storybooks.

I can literally smell the possibilities on the cool breeze. Normally, the unexpected sound of branches snapping in a wooded area would have me reaching for my gun and my cell so I could call Ranger because someone's after me again. This time, I smiled at the deer darting away from the meal we seem to have interrupted, and I linked fingers with Ranger after he opened and then closed the car door for me.

We clearly differ on what's important in life. He made sure to grab the bag I threw together, while I went immediately for the supposed 'Babe/bear'-proof cooler. I tried to look at everything at once, but there's too much surroundings for me to be totally aware of ... and that's just the outside. If this is how Rangeman witnesses are put up, I'm tempted to make up a new gang or psycho stalking me just to be able to hang out here a little longer.

This lake house isn't a log cabin, but its siding is obviously wood that's been stained or painted a tree trunk color so it completely disappears into the woods at night. The trim being painted a dark green that reminds me of the needles on a Christmas tree, helped with the home's camouflage. In a weird way, this house could be called the property version of Ranger ... mysterious, private, and totally off every radar. The foliage-filled forest around the home on the other hand, is more like me ... loud, hard to hide, and all but screaming 'Don't I look great in bright colors?!'

"Any chance the rent for this place is the same as what I try to give Dillon every month for my crappy apartment?" I said to Ranger. "You weren't kidding about it being right on a lake. It's not a beach house sitting on a tropical island, but it's still better than anything I've seen since my last escape to Point Pleasant."

"I'd say the house is yours if you want it, but it's too far away from my place in Trenton," Ranger told me.

My eyes took another tour of his property. "We're smart people. I'm sure we can work out a solution that can make us both happy."

"You haven't even seen the inside yet, Babe," he pointed out.

I shrugged. "Only one way to fix that," I said, and stepped to the side so he could unlock the front door.

As I predicted, the inside's even better than what I saw outside. Ranger's penthouse in the Rangeman building is so high-tech and bordering on sterile, it makes you feel safe while you try to appear as sophisticated and professional as the space warrants. But this home, even with similar calm colors, feels like a comforting hug. There are bulletproof windows here too, but almost all of them are looking out over a lake with only ripples from an occasional fish messing up the mirror-like surface. The sky's darker than what I was walking under in Trenton, but it's still blue and punctuated with puffy clouds that thankfully aren't filled with rain, or God forbid the s-word ... snow.

The house definitely feels masculine, with multiple shades of brown being used and almost as much wood on the floors, doors, and whittled down into ceiling beams, but everything is a much lighter shade of the typically crappy color. The cozy blankets thrown over the arm of the couch and one Rangeguy-sized armchair, had me wanting to curl up under them and beside my Range Man and just hibernate until winter's a month past being over.

"Would you like a tour of the upstairs now or later?" Ranger asked me, seemingly amused at how easily I can picture us holing up here indefinitely.

"Later, I think. Since it's just the two of us, how about we do what you suggested earlier? I plate us up two or three of Ella's caramel apple rolls, we head out to the deck you tempted me with, and you can hold me as I stuff my face while you tell me about the men who have left such an impression on you."

I paused and studied him standing only a foot away from me.

"Ooooor we can just sit quietly and watch leaves fall into the water. That's an option, too," I offered a beat later.

"You'll get cold. As soon as the sun starts to set, the temperature drops quickly out here."

"I already thought of that. That's why I said you can be holding me ... to keep me warm."

He raised an eyebrow. "Is that the only reason?"

I shook my head. "Nope."

He must've been okay with that answer, because he pulled only one plate out of a cabinet that was above a stove I doubt I'd know how to turn on, never mind cook anything on or in.

"You don't know what you're missing," I told him, licking some caramel off my fingers as we went out the back door and stepped onto the deck overlooking what Mary Lou would say is a 'postcard perfect' scene.

There are tons more trees here, which means there are far more colored leaves than Hamilton Avenue could ever hope to produce. As the deer we scared and now a pissed off squirrel showed, there are actually animals in the state far cuter than disgusting apartment rats ... which Rex is not no matter how many times Ranger and Tank call him one. And though the air has become a little colder ... it immediately made me feel more awake, and I wouldn't say this to Ranger given today's anniversary ... but also more alive.

I had just put my bun-burdened plate down on the corner of a massive outdoor stone fireplace, when Ranger seized my wrist and gave it a gentle tug. I ended up exactly where I half-jokingly suggested I'd spend the evening sitting.

"How did you know I needed to take a load off?" I teased, getting a sudden case of nerves knowing that things are likely about to go from idyllic to heartbreakingly-real real fast now.

His arms tightened around me. "As you can see and feel, I'm not missing anything."

"Except your men," I whispered with a kiss to the underside of his jaw, wanting him to know that I meant what I said. I came here not only to spend time with him, but also to help him stop hurting any way I can. "You don't have to tell me anything about the mission, or any of the details on why they didn't make it home from it, if you don't want to. Maybe you can just tell me how they lived and what drove them to."

"Trying to make the world a better and safer place is what drives everyone I work with," he said after a quiet moment. "They did ... even if they didn't live to see the results of what they died accomplishing. I hunted down every member of the terror cell that played a part in that building's hit to make sure they didn't make it home either."

"That must've been horrible for you."

"It wasn't. I've never been happier to repeatedly pull a trigger."

I wasn't expecting that answer and I needed a second to process it.

"I'm not apologizing for doing what was needed," he told me before I had a chance to speak.

"I don't need one," I assured him. "I can't claim to understand what you've had to do over the years, I just want you to give me a chance to try. What do you remember most about your men?"

"Are you sure you want to listen to me reminisce?"

I wrapped my arms around as much of his muscled torso as I could hold onto. "Ranger, I can honestly say that nothing and no one could get me to move right now ... except you. Not only do I want to be with you, I want to learn everything I can about the man behind the legend. Getting to know the people important to you is part of that ... a large part of you."

He weighed my words and likely the truth behind them. He must have believed me, because he started to share a few memories.

"Torres was like Santos," he began. "A smartass who went for a laugh right up until his rifle was needed. Even then, he wasn't quiet unless our lives depended on it."

"Did he steal snacks like Lester does?" I asked, hoping to keep the images in his head from going too dark.

"No. That was Simon Butler. He not only raided everyone's MREs and stole all the good stuff out of them, he'd put some scary shit together to satisfy whatever twisted craving he had at the time. He once made a two-ingredient 'soup'. Hot sauce with M&M floaters. He had an iron stomach, which is useful to have on a battlefield. You can't be squeamish about bodily fluids when you're at war."

"He sounds like my kind of person," I said quietly so he'd keep talking. "Snack-wise anyway. I got a lot of crap for my peanut butter and olive or pickle sandwiches. That's actually normal compared to a spicy M&M soup."

"You two would have immediately hit it off, Steph. He had a sense of humor as odd as his taste in shit-food."

"You guys really liked each other, didn't you? I've heard the word 'buddy' tossed around when the guys swap war stories, but you all weren't just friends during a battle ... you were friends period."

"Yes. I didn't - and don't - work with people I don't trust. Putting my life in someone else's hands isn't easy, and it's not a decision I take lightly."

"Tell me about it. The only person I've trusted enough to call or go to whenever someone was after me is you. Second to you are the guys you personally vouch for."

"You would have been safe with this group of men as well," he assured me. "Not only did they all strive to put their bodies between evil and the innocent, they protected their own. If one man was deployed, anyone who was back in the states would look after the families of those who were away."

That got me thinking. "Wait ... when you were 'in the wind' right before the mission we're talking about, the Rangeguy I didn't recognize who put a hole in Blighten by the Dumpster in my lot when that rebonded asshole followed me home, was one of the guys we lost, wasn't he?"

"Yes. That was Samir Harris. He was busting my balls for being in love with a mere mortal woman, but he swore to take care of you when I couldn't. In our line of work, family isn't defined by blood ... it was grown from and sustained by the blood we've shed together. If my woman was in trouble, one or all were going to be there to help you out. It was the same for me. Many 'in the wind' instances involved flying across the country to attend a ballet recital for the then five-year-old daughter of Baxter Baines, a ninety-first birthday party for Roberto Cirus' grandmother, or just a personal visit to a bank or business looking to profit from another deployment so the family wouldn't have to worry about losing a utility or a home."

"So you not only protected your guys while you were all oversees ... you had to look after their families here?"

"Not had to, Babe. Wanted to. My loyalty isn't freely given. Each and every one of my men have earned it. From the start of my career, I made it a point to keep in touch with the families of those I served with ... wives, husbands, girlfriends, children, mothers, parents, and a feisty grandmother like yours in Cirus' case."

"I'm not surprised that you do. You don't just support people, you build support systems everywhere you go. You know, there are times I really wish I could put my brain into someone else's body, just to see how a 'normal person' would deal with how I think and feel. I can only imagine how you handle everything you do with all you've gone through."

"Some days are easier than others. You just get up and get yourself through the day any way you can manage to. It's nighttime when there are no people or distractions that triple the difficulty level."

I shivered, not from the cold but from guilt ... picturing all the nights I haven't been there with - or for - him. I made a silent vow to myself that after today he'll never be alone again unless he needs to be. Being Ranger, he immediately jumped to being concerned about my well-being, never considering that I was being physically affected thinking about his.

"Come on, Babe. The wind's picking up and your body temperature is going down."

I sat up, a movement that had my behind pressing more firmly into him. I felt his reaction to the contact, but he didn't act on it. He didn't have to say it for me to know that asking me to come here with him is as far as he was going to test our new relationship today. Although the sun's not due back until the morning, I tried to read what was going on behind his eyes in the increasing darkness.

"I'm in your lap, Batman, do you honestly think my temperature dropped instead of it skyrocketing?"

"When all I've been doing to you is talking ... yes."

"At the risk of giving information to the enemy, the fact that you were so comfortable talking to me, is almost as sexy as what you do to me with your hands, mouth, and all the rest of your body parts."

"I've said in the past that there's no price for what we give each other. Tonight, I'm adding that there's absolutely no pressure. You came with me when you didn't have to, that's enough for now. I can take the couch or the bed in the spare room if you're not sure about sharing one with me right now."

It hit me just how much I love him. After the day - hell the year - he's had, my comfort is what he puts before anything else ... not his own. Never his own, if I think about it. He'll see just how much that is about to change.

"Ranger, sleeping with you has never been the issue," I said to him, not expecting those particular words to be coming out of me. But as Grandma Mazur has said … 'In for a penny, in for a pound', so I kept going. "Knowing that I wanted to do it every night for the rest of my life was the problem I didn't know how to solve."

His head lowered the couple of inches that were separating our mouths, and he spoke directly into my confession.

"You've come to the right place for a solution to that one, Babe."