Recap: Ranger takes Stephanie to the hospital, then back to Trenton. Stephanie makes plans to go to dinner at her mother's.

Stephanie

It was evening by the time we got back to Rangeman. Ranger took the bags and left me with nothing to carry but my purse and the bag of ice I'd been holding there off and on since we left the hospital. Half my hair was now going crazy from the repeated applications, and I looked a little like I'd stuck half my head in a blender. I was exhausted from the short night, the adrenaline-filled day, the injury, and the stress of being in a hospital. I wanted nothing more than to lie down and sleep for a week.

That's not true. I wanted nothing more than to take Ranger to bed and fuck him all night, catch a few hours sleep, and then do the same thing in the morning. But noooooo. I had to have a head injury. No sex for 96 hours. Considering we started sleeping together Wednesday morning, and had last slept together about 12 hours ago, by the time we could start again we actually would have spent more than half our relationship without making love. The large box of condoms was poking through the edge of my bag, taunting me with its uselessness.

I looked up at Ranger's eyes. They held so much emotion. Concern, exhaustion, but most of all love. He loved me, had loved me for a long time. And I had loved him too. I ran my hand up and down his arm as the elevator traveled to the seventh floor.

When the door opened I felt some of the tension melt away from my body. 7 wasn't exactly my home, but it was starting to feel that way. In the kitchen I saw Rex running on his wheel. I put down my bag and rushed over to him. He paused and looked at me, and I grinned back as he started running again. Ella had not only taken care of him, she had decorated his cage with a tiny bouquet of flowers, and strung the outside of the cage with a string of paper American, Italian, and Hungarian flags, as well as one I didn't recognize.

"It's Cuban." Ranger said, reading my mind. "Seems Ella is dropping hints. I think she wants me to adopt him."

"I don't know, do you think you're responsible enough to take care of a hamster?"

"Babe."

"I mean it. Sure, you're CEO of a large company that employs dozens and dozens of people, and you are regularly in life or death situations, but you have to clean the cage, like, every week. It takes at least 10 minutes. And you have to make sure he has food and water. It's not easy."

And with that, he swept me up into his arms and carried me into the bedroom. Completely ignoring any hamster-daddy related activities. See? Not responsible enough.

Ranger

I set her down gently on the bed, listening to her giggle. I wished so much I could take all the pain on myself, suck the injuries into my body. Every bruise on her skin hurt to look at far more than it would have hurt to carry them on my own. But all I could do was care for her. And give her the ride of her life in the 93 hours, 37 minute, and 15 seconds when it was safe. Not that I was counting.

"Do you want to go to sleep Babe?"

She nodded. "It's been a hell of a ride the last day."

That was an understatement. In the last 24 hours I had gotten a blow job in a public place within earshot of a stranger, suffered a PTSD attack, been told I was loved, admitted my own feelings, watched Stephanie solve a puzzle that would have stumped the FBI for hours, caught two white supremacists that were threatening the president, and watched the love of my life get hurt, again, while I was powerless to stop it. It felt like this day had taken weeks to go by.

I grabbed a t-shirt and panties from the closet and brought them to the bed. Then I carefully undressed the tender, fierce, resilient woman who was crazy enough to say she loved me. I was tempted to cut away her clothes rather than make her lift her arms above her head, but she would have thought that was wasteful. So I just dressed her as gently as I could, careful to not touch her injuries.

Stephanie

I went to sleep within a few minutes of getting home. I was just completely worn out. A few minutes after I drifted off I felt Ranger lay down on the bed beside me. I snuggled up to him as he wrapped an arm around me, and I fell asleep again with my face pressed against his chest.

I woke up the next morning to an empty bed but a note from Ranger.

Good Morning Babe. Because you got hurt in the line of duty, you're on administrative leave for the day. Full pay, but no looking at screens, exercising, practising at the firing range, or anything else that might strain your body. Call Ella when you wake up for breakfast, and I'll join you for lunch. In the meantime, sleep as much as you can. Ella can also keep you company if you get bored or lonely. Recovering from a potential concussion is boring, and I'm sorry about that, but I don't want to take any chances. Save up your strength for dinner with your family this evening, and cancel it without any guilt if you don't feel up to it. Your health comes first.

I love you,

~R

It was a sweet message, even if he was being overprotective again. I called Ella and she said she would be up in 10 minutes with food, so I got up and got dressed. I felt OK, aside from a headache and a bunch of sore bruises. There was nothing visible past my elbow, so at least I'd easily be able to cover up easily. I didn't want Mom to freak out about the danger of my job yet again, or to think Ranger had hurt me. I went with a black long-sleeved Rangeman T-shirt and cargoes, and had just finished up when I heard Ella come in.

I stepped out of the bedroom to see her putting a plate on the dining room table. "Thank you for taking care of Rex. I love what you did with the cage."

"It was a pleasure, dear. Let me know if you ever want me to watch him again. Louis and I enjoyed having him."

I was surprised. "You brought him to your place?"

"I did. I didn't want him to get lonely. He watched TV with us, and spent Saturday in the break room with the men. He's quite social."

I was glad Rex hadn't been lonely while I was away. I tapped the side of his cage to say hello while Ella turned to go. When I sat down at the table I saw that not only had she made me pancakes, but they were heart shaped. And on them there was a symbol. The Batman and Wonder Woman logos, drawn in the batter.

"Ella, can you adopt me?" I asked as I heard the door open. She didn't reply, but I heard a chuckle before it clicked closed.

The rest of the day was boring, as Ranger had said it would be. After I ate the very nice pancakes I went back to sleep, waking when Ranger came up for lunch. We chatted while eating sandwiches on way-too-many grain bread (honestly, how many grains are there? I think they just make up new ones to mess with us.) He only kissed my hand and my forehead, which was just frustrating. I wanted to drag him back to the bedroom and tear off his clothing with my teeth, but I assumed that would fall under the category of "Things that would raise my blood pressure."

After lunch I puttered around the apartment. I listened to some podcasts, did my nails, and in general killed time. At 4 I started to get ready for dinner with my parents, doing the whole shower-blow dry-makeup thing. Normally I wouldn't put so much effort into going to my parents' house, but I was going to be introducing Ranger to them; not as a co-worker, but as my boyfriend. I figured I'd need all the help I could get.

At 5:30 Ranger entered the apartment. 5 minutes later he had gone from his normal work wear to casual dressy, with slacks and a Rangeman polo shirt. The fact that it took him only a few minutes to get dressed up while it took me more than an hour was frustrating, but I think I was just deflecting my nervousness.

We took the truck to my parents' house, it would look less out-of-place than any of the Porsches would. As we turned the corner I saw my Grandmother and Mother standing at the door, drawn by their ever-present instinct alerting them that their progeny was approaching.

"Are you ready Babe?" Ranger said, looking at me with concern. "We can go back if you want."

I shook my head, than regretted it as my brain complained as the motion. I realized he may be nervous too. It was odd to think of him being intimidated by something as simple as dinner with my parents. But he was.

"Let's do this." I said, with more steel in my voice than I really felt. I unbuckled myself and opened the door, ready to face whatever came.