Ranger closed himself in the office leaving Stephanie alone to brood. She couldn't remember a time when there wasn't some sort of tension between them. But it had always been sexual in nature, not this cold, angry wall. Even during the Scrog mess, the sexual tension was there, like a low, steady hum. Underneath that, she had seen bits of affection in his protectiveness and his trust. Now, the connection felt frayed. She wasn't sure who was cutting harder on the line, but it was clear that with one strong tug, the connection would break.

She was anxious to call her parents. Surely by now, her mother had imagined her impregnated with Ranger's Cuban love child. And she needed to call Joe. She wasn't sure what to say to him. What could she say to him? He had told her he loved her before she left, but he'd had several days to sift through what was said in his bedroom, and she was certain their next conversation wouldn't go well.

Thirty minutes had come and gone and she was still sitting in a daze in the chair. Suddenly, Stephanie sucked in a breath as she felt that familiar sharp pain, low in her belly.

"You've got to be kidding me," she muttered to herself. She stood, walked over to the entry area to pick up her purse, then wandered down the hall to find the bathroom. Once found, she switched on the light and closed and locked the door.

The bathroom was spartan. Everything was white, from the tiles on the floor to the bathtub enclosure with a simple clear vinyl shower curtain. After setting her purse on the vanity, she rifled around the contents looking for a tampon. Nothing. She shook the bag out into the sink and started picking through the detritus.

Her eyes caught on her birth control packet and she winced. She always shoved her pills in her purse when she was spending the night at Joe's. Otherwise, she usually left them on her vanity by her toothbrush. She flipped the lid open and saw that she had failed to take them the last several days, thus her period had begun early. Better than the alternative, she supposed.

After dropping the last of the items back in her purse, she rested her hands on the sink. What in the hell was she supposed to do, shred rags? She sighed, opened the door and crossed the hall. Pressing her ear to the door, she could hear the bass of Ranger's low voice, if not the actual words he was saying. She knocked gently as she swung the door open.

This room, too, was spartan. There was a daybed on the left wall and a small dresser opposite the door. Ranger had his desk set up perpendicular to the right wall so that he was facing the entry. His eyes shot up from the computer screen and leveled on her. He continued on with his call as if she wasn't there.

Walking fully inside the room, Stephanie leaned against the wall near the door, arms crossed, and waited patiently for him to complete his call. Ranger's eyes remained on her as a continued his clipped conversation only he switched from speaking English to Spanish.

Minutes later, he wrapped up his call and gave her his full attention. She looked pointedly at the phone and said, "I need to call my parents."

"I already did."

"What?"

"I called and talked to your father."

"And?"

"He pretty much figured out things weren't as they seemed. He doesn't know details, but he trusts me."

"What about my mom?"

"We decided it was in her best interest to believe you ran off with me. No need to worry her unnecessarily."

"You don't think my running off with you would worry her?"

"Not as much as the truth."

Stephanie looked at the floor. "If I thought my reputation in the Burg was bad before…"

"When have you ever cared what other people think of you?"

She shrugged. "I don't, it just…"

"Looks like you ran off in the middle of the night to be with the man you loved?"

She shrugged again, not even sure anymore why she was giving him such a hard time. At length, she said, "I would have liked to talk to my dad."

"I know. But I need to make a lot of calls tonight and by the time I'm done it will be too late. You can call him in the morning."

Eyes still cast downward, she said quietly, "What about Joe?"

He was silent for a beat. "What about him?"

She looked up and saw him staring at her blankly. "You promised I could call him to let him know I'm okay."

"Is that all you want to tell him?"

"Ranger."

He looked away from her and said, "You can call him tomorrow as well." He picked up the phone again but paused in dialing when he realized she was not accepting his dismissal. In a tired tone, he said, "Anything else?"

"Would you stop being such a jerk? I'm sorry you're busy and I'm sorry I've inconvenienced your life, but you just dumped me in the front room of this…" She waved her hands searching for words, " … place and I don't…" She heaved out a sigh and looked down quickly as she felt her eyes burn with tears of frustration. She whispered, "I just got my period. I don't have anything with me."

His face softened fractionally. "And there's no Ella here," he surmised.

Ranger put down the phone and walked around the desk. Grabbing her gently by the arm, he guided her back down the hall and toward the cabinets in the dining room. He methodically began unlocking them one by one.

"The entire left cabinet is food. These are MREs, or Meals Ready to Eat. Just put the pouch in boiling water for two to three minutes or you can use the heater pouches that come with the pack. I have another case in the storage closet off the bedroom if we end up using all these. This shelf is obviously canned goods, those containers hold dried fruits, and that box down there is full of bagged rice. There are boxes of various pastas over there. When I go to get our bags, and return the car, I'll run into the store and get some perishables, but I'm not planning to go out to do it again, so enjoy them while they last."

He closed the cabinets on the left and stepped in front of the ones on the right. "In here I have all sizes and types of batteries, including the ones used in the fob that got us in here and can get you out. I'll give you your fob later. Next to that are light bulbs. The bottom shelf is paper towel, toilet paper and garbage bags. The middle shelf is for medical supplies, including antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, anti-seizure meds—just about everything under the sun. Those books right there are a Physician's Desk Reference and a couple of medical and simple surgical manuals."

Then he pulled out a large Tupperware bin from the bottom and dropped it to the floor. He snapped open the lid, set it to the side and pulled out a box of tampons and made to hand them to her.

Stephanie stood confused for a moment, not taking the box. Ranger lowered his hand. "Problem?"

"Those are … does Julie use that brand?"

"As far as I know, Julie hasn't had her first period yet."

"Then…"

"Steph, as I understand it, a tampon is a tampon when you've got nothing else."

She shook her head. "No. That's my brand."

"Then what's the problem?"

"What else is in that bin?"

He shook his head and dropped the box of tampons. Standing, he indicated she should step forward and see for herself. There was shampoo. Her shampoo. Her conditioner was there too, along with the anti-frizz serum she loved. There were unopened packets of all her preferred cosmetics. Her toothpaste, a new toothbrush; everything that was in her bathroom at home was duplicated in this box.

Her eyes catching on something, she leaned down and pulled out a pharmaceutical sized box of birth control packets. They were her prescription. Looking back up to Ranger, she frowned.

"Why?"

"They prevent pregnancy. Not an ideal condition when you're on the run."

"Presuming anyone is having sex," she said wryly. "I meant, why do you have all this stuff? How do you know everything I use?"

He pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes for a second as if warding off a headache before dropping his arms and answering. "After Scrog, I knew there would always be the possibility that I would have to put you in a safe house."

"A bunker."

"Whatever. Steph, you have a basket of toiletries under my bathroom sink."

"And you went through it?"

"Yes."

"That's my private stuff."

"It's under my bathroom sink. Jesus Christ, Stephanie, it's not like I went through your diary."

"I don't keep birth control pills under your sink."

"Believe me, I'm very aware of that. You leave them on your bathroom sink, in plain sight, next to your toothbrush."

Ranger had made note of her brand of prescription birth control and had somehow ordered a year's supply, she thought, more than a little stunned.

As though reading her mind, Ranger said, "For the bunker, Stephanie. You're acting like I violated your privacy just for the sake of doing it."

She knew he was right. She couldn't seem to stop herself from being so contrary. Stephanie dropped the pharmaceutical box back into the container and moved to snap the lid back on. She paused and dropped the lid again, then tore off the top of the box and took out a pill pack along with the box of tampons.

She looked back at Ranger to see him watching her intently. "They keep my periods regular and they reduce cramps."

He said nothing, but he reached across her and pulled out a bottle of Motrin and handed it to her.

Hesitantly, she took it from him, then headed toward the bathroom. When she had her hand on the knob, she stopped and said, "How long will we be here?"

"As long as it takes."

Looking over her shoulder at him, she asked, "A week, a month?"

Softly, he said, "As long as it takes."

"Takes to what?"

"You know what."

Leaning her forehead against the doorframe, she said, "You shouldn't have to do this for me."

When he spoke, she realized he was right behind her. "I've done it before. If I have to do it over and over, so be it."

In a whisper, she said, "Why?"

She felt him gently ghost his hand over the back of her hair. She almost didn't hear him say, "You know why."

A/N: There's a new post at my Mrs. Middle America word press blog!