Steph started collecting all the various piles of documents she separated and carried them to the conference room. Opening the door and turning on the light she looked around at the room. She caught sight of a stapler on the far corner, smiled and figured it would work perfectly. Over the next three hours Steph stapled various papers and news articles she could find connections with all over the walls. She would take a step back and see another connection and realized this was going to need more supplies than just a stapler. She had made various trips back to her desk grabbing different color highlighters and files. At one point she asked some of the evening shift guys for some string and tacks. They looked at her funny before finding the items in the storeroom and handing them over.

It was pushing eleven o'clock and Steph was still in the conference room. She seemed to have run out of steam a half hour ago and not making any new progress. She knew something was there, her spidey sense was tingling but figured she needed some sleep and could look at it in the morning. She shut off the lights, went back to her cubicle, powered down the computer before saying goodnight to the few guys running the just started the midnight shift.

Twenty minutes later Steph entering her apartment when she realized that she was so wrapped up in the case that she forgot to head up to see what Ranger had wanted. She figured it was too late to call him; he probably was already in bed since he likes to rise before sun. She would have to get use to not being able to just stop by his apartment anymore once he got married. His new wife might not appreciate it too much.

Steph turned in for the night knowing that tomorrow was Friday and she would have a long weekend ahead of her since she still had a few outstanding skips to bring in before their bonds expired.

Eight am came way too quickly. Steph contemplated breaking the annoying alarm clock into millions of pieces but figured that it would just add to her list of things to do today. Hence buy a new clock. She struggled out of bed giving it one more meaningful look before she headed to the kitchen to start the coffee brewing before taking off for a shower. Dressed and out the door she pulled in the Rangeman and was walking onto the fifth floor exactly at nine o'clock.

She dropped her things in her cubicle, powered up her computer, and then headed to the break room for another cup of coffee and something to eat since she did not have time to stop for donuts. All she could find was a multigrain muffin. Back in her office she grabbed some more files and headed to the conference room. Turning on the lights she took note that everything was where she left it the night before.

Not knowing where to start she figured she would have to review everything she found yesterday making sure she did not miss anything as well as might give her an idea where to start with today. Steph realized that she was going to need more room; she stuck her head out the door just in time to see Lester and Bobby walking down the hall.

"Hey Les, Bobby can you give me a hand"

"Sure beautiful, whatcha need?"

"Can you move this table out in to the hall or somewhere else? I need the room."

Bobby and Lester looked at each other, shrugged a shoulder and make fast work of the table.
"Anything else beautiful?"

"Nope that should do it."

She pulled the door shut again, then moved some of the chairs to the end of the room not covered in papers. Taking one rolling chair she placed it in the middle of the room and sat down just starring at the walls. Every once and a while she would jump up and move a paper or add a few more to the walls. She would go back to sitting and spinning around in circles until she spotted something else.

Looking at her watch she realized it was already noon and figured she could use a break and a bite to eat. She was not sure she could go for anymore-healthy items today after somehow missing dinner the night before and only having a healthy brain muffin this morning. She grabbed her bag and took the elevator down to the garage. Not knowing what she was in the mood for she started driving around. About ten minutes later she found her self parked in front of the "Work Your Frustration Out" building from yesterday. Figuring her mind was over worked from looking at all the case files she figured she might as well go in for a little bit.

Walking in she headed over to put her bag on the shelf on the wall and spotted Matt walking towards her with a giant small across his face. "So you came back"

"Yeah some how I left the office for lunch and my car brought be back here instead" she responded laughing.

"Yeah I know it was more my charm" Matt stated also laughing. "So you want to go a few rounds with the bag since your car brought you all this way?"

"Yeah why not, I could use the time to work some things out in my head"

With the gloves tied on, Steph started to work the bag. Matt stayed fairly close this time making suggestions and helping correct her position to help prevent injury. A few times he have her stop to show her a couple movements that she could work together and appeared to be pretty lethal. The two moved around the bag together trying different combinations. Sometimes Matt would hold the bag and let Steph just wail on it, while other times he would shift the bag just enough to make Steph compensate with her body to make the hit connect.

An hour and half later Matt stopped them and told her it was enough for today. Steph just nodded and stuck out her hands to have Matt untie the gloves. After everything was put away Steph headed over to the counter and paid for the next month to use the facility. Steph thanked Matt and headed back to her car. She headed back to Rangeman figuring she could catch a shower in Ranger's apartment or one of the open apartments. A few months ago she decided it would be a good idea to carry around an extra set of clothes in her car as well as leaving one at Rangeman incase she has her normal run of luck and ends up covered in food or paint. Today it would come in handy and she never thought it would be because she volunteered to actually workout. Maybe she needed to go to the doctors this is not like her. Nah she thought, it just seems to be a really good way to release the stress without eating all the donuts. She also figured she could not be seen eating the donuts by the dozen after she had recently told Lula that she should try some moderation and cut back on sweets.

Pulling back into the garage she headed up to the fifth floor to see what apartment was available to use for a shower. Tank told her that all the apartments were currently being used but to run up to Ranger's since he was on a conference call, and he would let Ranger know when he got off. Just wanting to get out of her sweaty clothes she did no over think the situation but grabbed her bag of spare clothes from her bottom desk drawer and headed back toward the elevator.

Somehow Steph managed to control herself and only used Ranger's body wash two times. She figured that was as good as it was going to get. She probably would never be able to say "no" to it all together. Back in black she finished pulling her hair in a ponytail, swiping on some lip gloss and mascara and headed back down making a quick stop in the break room for a sandwich. At this rate between all the healthy eating and the Frustration Center she would start might actually drop a few pounds. Hey it can't be that bad of thing, she would not have to worry about if her jeans fit in the morning.

Back to her conference room she went. She had a thought when she was punching that damn bag she wanted to piece together. She was back in the room working for about half an hour when Ranger stopped in. "Babe"

"Yo" Steph responded.

"What did you do to my conference room? Did you really need to staple all those pieces of paper to the wall? And what is with the string – are you planning a road trip?"

"Yup" she smiled back up at him. She could tell he was laughing on the inside and his lips were tilted upwards. "So what's up?"

"Wanted to talk to you. I missed you last night. I thought you were going to stop when you got done here."

"I was but I lost track of time and did not leave to almost twelve and I was so exhausted I sort of forgot and ended up back at my apartment. I was going to call you but did not want to wake you if you were sleeping."

"Babe you can stop in anytime or call for that matter."

"Oh um Okay but I know how you like your privacy"

"If I did not want you stopping over when ever I would not have given you a key to my place Babe. Do you have some time to talk or are you still in your zone here?" Ranger asked smirking

"No I can talk now, I have not gotten back into this yet. Where do you want to talk at?

"How about my apartment?"
"I don't think I am liking this already" Steph nervously laughed.

Ranger placed a hand on Steph's lower back and steered her to the elevator. Once in the elevator he pulled her close and got a whiff of his shower gel on her. "You smell good" he said.

"I smell like you" she responded with a slight smile

"I know, I like you smelling like me, if only it was for other reasons then you using my shower while I was not around to help"

"Promises Promises, you seem to be a man of words but there is no follow through. Whatever happened to the opportunist? Is he broken" see responded. Steph knew she was skating on thin ice but she liked this easy banter they could have going on. It was so easy being friends with Ranger.

Ranger growled in her ear and tightened his arms around her. "Playing with Fire Babe"

Entering the apartment Ranger headed to the kitchen, over his shoulder he asked if she wanted anything to drink. "Coke if you have it, if not water is fine"

Ranger came back handing Steph a coke and keeping a bottle of water for himself.

They both sat on the couch facing each other with their backs to the armrest. Steph was determined to wait Ranger out this time. He was the one that wanted to talk; she was not even sure what this was even about.