Recap: Stephanie and Ranger have to cancel their Sunday date because of threats coming from white supremacist websites. They run out of condoms and have to improvise.

Stephanie

Once I could walk again we took a shower together, my third in a little more that 12 hours. I was going to end up with insanely dry skin at this rate. But a shower with Ranger is nothing to be missed. He can be very thorough when it comes to cleaning every inch of you. It was odd how this was the place I'd been so upset last night, but now felt so relaxing. Ranger washed me down with his Bvlgari shower gel, and the scent filled my head.

We got dressed, him in a black suit and me in a nice outfit that was casual enough for wandering around a museum, but fancy enough if we were able to go out. I leaned against his chest, enjoying a few more moments being able to touch him.

We decided to walk to the museum, it was essentially across the street and we'd spend as much time parking as we would save by driving. I was surprised when Ranger led me out of the back door of the building instead of the front. "Where are we going?"

"Babe, as amazing as this morning was, I don't want it to happen again." We ducked into a CVS, and he bought a 30 pack of condoms. When we left he handed them to me. "Can you put these in your bag? I'd rather not walk into the meeting with them."

I took the box and stowed it in my messenger bag, brushing my hands across his skin when our fingers touched. There was a spark of electricity, a promise of things to come. "Let's go get you to your meeting to battle White Eyes."

"Babe?"

Hah! I'd stumped him. "Batman villain. Led a racist militia group."

"Babe."

10 minutes later I was huffing up the steps to the museum. There's a reason Rocky used them for exercise. I lost count, but I'm pretty sure there were about 50 billion of them. Halfway up Ranger knelt down in front of me. "Put your arms around my neck, Babe." I did as he asked, wondering what he was up to. I found out a moment later when he grabbed my legs and swept me up into a piggy back ride. I squealed in surprise, then in fear as he bounded up the steps two at a time despite my added weight. I gripped him tightly, but made sure not to block his breathing. The last thing I'd need would be for him to black out while holding me up.

We reached the top in far less time than it would have taken me to get there. I grinned when we arrived. Ranger had planned for us to go to the famous Love statue in Center City, but here was the bilingual version, the word "Amor" in the same square style, the same askew "O".

"Do we have time for a picture?" I asked.

He looked at his watch. "Sure, Babe."

I waved over the nearest person. "Excuse me, could you take a picture of us in front of the statue?"

"Sure," the woman said. "Hand me your phone."

Ranger shifted, unusual for him. "Can you get yours out Babe?"

"Mine's in my bag. You'd have to put me down for me to get it. Isn't yours on your belt?"

He crouched slightly and lowered my legs, letting me slide gently to me feet. I dug in my messenger bag for a minute, while the woman waited, getting slightly impatient. She could see Ranger's phone on his belt as well as I could. Finally I dug through all the stuff I had put in there for the day's outing and handed it over. "Sorry," I said. "Thanks for waiting."

We got a few pictures, some with us standing, and a couple with me back in my piggyback ride position. When the woman handed my phone back to me and left, I looked at him. "What was that about?"

He turned to the entrance of the museum and walked across the large expanse leading to the building. "My phone has sensitive information on it. It's encrypted, but handing it over to a stranger who could have run away with it would be unwise. Yours doesn't have anything classified on it, and would be far easier to replace."

I decided that it would be immature to complain that he was willing to have my phone stolen, but not his. So I followed him up to the entrance, where we met Frank and Silvio. Both were dressed in Rangeman black, and looked slightly blurry eyed from having been awoken and rustled out of bed unexpectedly on a Sunday morning.

"Frank!" a female voice called from the staircase. A Native American woman dressed in the traditional Secret Service suit came down, all smiles. Frank turned to look at her and broke out in a wide grin that actually rivaled Ranger's.

"Mary!" The two smiled and did that awkward dance people do when they aren't sure if they should hug or shake hands. In the end they did that hand-gripping pat on the back hybrid thing. It was obvious they had been friends when they worked together, before Frank had joined Rangeman.

"Ranger, Stephanie, this is Agent Mankiller. We've known each other since we started."

I tried, I really did. I tried not to laugh. But a giggle forced its way out of my lips. Ranger, Frank, and Mary all looked at me. I tried to stop, but any attempt at muffling myself just put me back into the giggle-loop.

"Is there a joke you want to share with the rest of the class Steph?" Ranger asked. His blank face was in place, but he must be annoyed if he was calling me Steph instead of Babe.

I managed to pull myself together. I said "Agent Mary Mankiller." She looked a little affronted.

"It's a title of honor given to those who protect the Tribe."

I tried to explain myself, this time looking at Ranger. "Mary Mankiller. Merry Man Killer. Killer of a Merry Man?"

Ranger rolled his eyes. I'm rubbing off on him. "She calls my employees the Merry Men. Apparently she thinks your name is an amusing coincidence."

The agent looked stoic for a moment.

"Com'on Mary, it is pretty funny." Frank said.

She looked at me. "You really call his people Merry Men?"

I nodded, unable to read her expression. I'm assuming all government jobs come with training on wiping away all emotions from your face.

"Does that make him Robin Hood?" She asked, looking at Ranger.

A mental image of him prancing around in tights and with a bow and arrow nearly caused me to start giggling again. "Nope, he's Batman. Fits his wardrobe better. But Batman doesn't have a big group of people with a cute collective name. And Tank reminds me a lot more of John Little than Robin."

I thought I saw Ranger's lip twitch a bit at that. I wonder what it would take for me to get him into those tights. I probably didn't want to ask. It would probably be butt stuff.

Ranger

I was worried for a moment that Steph might have given off a really bad first impression with Agent Mankiller. But I should have known she'd salvaged it. At least there didn't seem to be any hurt feelings. I wasn't sure how she would be viewed professionally, but I didn't think she'd endangered the contract. That made me more glad than I wanted to admit. For a moment there I wasn't sure she'd be able to pull it off. I should have had more faith in her.

We followed Agent Mankiller to a small conference room. Steph squeezed my hand and turned to leave.

"Where are you going, Ms. Plum?" Agent Mankiller asked.

She blinked at her. "I was going to go explore the museum until Ranger was done."

"Your temporary clearance was approved. You can be involved for anything labeled Confidential or Secret. If we go beyond that, I'll ask you to step outside the room until we finish that discussion."

"When did the clearance go through?" I asked, surprised I hadn't been notified. I'd had Stephanie fill out various forms over the years to get her clearances, hoping that I could use her for some government research work and get her some money that wouldn't put her at risk of wrestling vaseline-covered men, rolling in garbage, or getting shot. The first two were common occurrences. The latter had happened far too many times for comfort. Because much of the background check work had already been completed, we had applied for a 3 week raising of her level to Secret so she could be more involved in planning.

"You were sent an email last night. Didn't you get it?"

Shit. I hadn't checked my email after the emotional roller coaster of last night.

"He ate something that disagreed with him last night, and I'm afraid dealing with that took up most of the night." Stephanie said tactfully. Which was true, though she made it sound far more like I'd had food poisoning than flashbacks. I'd have to decide what to tell the Secret Service before long, but it could wait a bit more.

She nodded, accepting the answer. "If all of you would take a seat, I'd like to show you what came up last night." She moved into the room where 4 other agents were already seated, and we all took our chairs. Stephanie was to my right, looking a little shocked she was in the room. I gave her a quick comforting pat on the leg under the table, then turned my attention to the presentation, trying like hell to not get distracted by having her scent so close to me.

Thanks to Captain Jon for his help with figuring out the security clearances.

Agent Mary is a cameo of trhodes9. She picked the name and gave me the history of it.