Recap: Stephanie calls Bobby to get advice on how to deal with Ranger's flashback, which is of him being tortured in South America.

Stephanie

I kept speaking softly to Ranger, hoping against hope that I could bring him back to me. This was so new. He had always been the one to rescue me, protect me. I know that I provide some nebulous feeling of comfort to him, but that always seemed so abstract. How could I compare the peace he got from watching me sleep to him literally jumping off a bridge to save me? But now it was my turn to save him.

I knelt in front of him, trying to hold his gaze. I had my own memory of being in almost the same position only an hour before, under very different circumstances. But while I wouldn't have minded reliving that little episode over and over, it was obvious what Ranger was going through something truly horrific.

"Ranger, please come back to me. Please. I know it was awful, but it's over now. It's a memory, it's not happening anymore. You're here with me. I'm your Babe, I've always been your Babe. Please come back to me Ranger."

His eyes flickered to me. I saw recognition there, but his breathing was faster than I'd ever seen it, even when we were running. No, I'd seen it that fast once before, when I had fallen out of that cabinet into his arms and he'd thought I was dead. His heart rate was so high I could almost see his pulse in his neck.

I couldn't imagine what he was going through. He never told me about what happened when he was in the wind, but I knew it was dangerous. I knew he sometimes watched me sleep when he got back, that somehow doing that made him feel better.

"Ranger, please come back to me. I know you're scared, but please come back. I need you here, your Babe needs you. I always have."

Suddenly his breathing slowed, his eyes became more focused, and he sagged his shoulders. He reached out and held my hand as gently as if it were a soap bubble. "Babe?"

I heaved a sigh of relief. "Are you Ok? How are you feeling?"

He shook his head. "I think we should go back to the condo."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

He looked at me. I should have known, of course he didn't want to talk about it. Ranger was not one for sharing his feelings. Well, aside from lust. He liked sharing that one.

"Right. Stupid question. But how about I drive back?"

It was a sign of how shaken he was that he didn't object in the slightest.

Ranger

"Brown"

"Ranger, are you OK? Where's Bomber?"

"She's in the shower. I think she needed a little time someplace where I couldn't see her. She's understandably freaked out."

"She did well. I could hear her. For someone with no medical training, she did everything she should have done."

"I know. She usually does, unless it's about her eating."

"So, what do you think triggered this? I've known you a long time, and never known it to happen before. If we can't figure out the cause, you know you can't be on duty with a weapon, let alone near POTUS."

"I gave it a lot of thought in the car. I can think of two things. First, I had hummus for dinner."

"You've hated hummus ever since…..why in the world did you eat it?"

When Bobby had rescued me, I had been in such bad shape I had trouble opening my jaw. It had been swollen shut from all my injuries. So I had several days where I ate nothing solid. Hummus seemed perfect, healthy food that could be sucked through a large straw. There's not a lot of proteins you can do that with, unless you want to survive on Ensure.

Unfortunately, eating the same food for days when you're miserable can create some powerful associations. I'd disliked it ever since, it brought back memories. But it was on the menu at dinner, and I'd remembered my conversation with Steph about foods I could eat off her body. It had seemed worth it to give it another try, and I'd been right that eating it off each other had been unbelievably erotic.

"I had my reasons. Though I won't do it again."

"Anything else? Certainly you've had stronger triggers than that without having a flashback."

I stayed silent. There were a few things that had changed since Babe had started sharing my bed.

"Ranger, I know that silence. What aren't you telling me?"

I checked the bathroom. The shower was still running, so she shouldn't be able to hear me. I walked to the far side of the small condo to make sure she didn't overhear.

"I've been taking medication to suppress dreams. I don't want to have a nightmare and scare her in the middle of the night."

"I thought you said she always made you sleep more peacefully. And aren't you supposed to keep me appraised of all medications, prescription and OTC? I'm sure I remember something in the company handbook about that."

"Fuck you, Brown."

"So, if she makes you sleep more peacefully, why take dream-suppressing drugs?"

Because I was worried that after a while they would come back. I hadn't slept in the same bed as Stephanie for several days in a row very often, and there had always been a time limit. I was on the run, she was is hiding, or those blissful days in Hawaii. But now I was hoping that she would be in my bed every night for the foreseeable future, vastly increasing the risk that she would be there sometime when I had nightmares. I'd heard about soldiers coming back and attacking their partners in their sleep. I hadn't wanted that to happen to me. If I ever hurt Stephanie….

"It was a precaution." I said, reverting to my normal clipped speech.

"Your mind processes a lot in your dreams. If it hasn't had the chance for a few days, it's possible it spilled over in your waking life. It's like a sink filling up slowly with water. You covered up the overflow hole while at the same time increasing the water coming out of the faucet. So it spilled out. All I can tell you to do is avoid triggers, stop taking dream suppressing drugs, and warn Bomber about the nightmares. I'll also refer you to a psychologist who can try a therapy that might help."

I heard the water shut off and Stephanie step out of the shower. I hung up in a way that would cause her to moan about my phone manners, and went to meet her.