Disclaimer: JE owns the characters.

His POV

She really had no clue how beautiful she was. There were no words to describe how she effected me. It was all of the little things that had changed for me. I use to be able to make myself fall asleep on the ground the Congo. Now, I can't go anywhere near my bed without her by my side. My body wouldn't rest until I knew that she was safely tucked away in my arms. She had been with me every night for the last eighty-four days. Eighty-four of the best days of my life. I was completely undone by her.

Tank had gotten a call from Lula, while we were at Tiny's, one hundred nights ago. She had heard that Steph and Morelli had the fight to end all fights. Now, no one could find her. Lula was freaking out, so Tank told her that we would find her. I jumped on the phone and called Ram in the control room. He tracked her down and was able to locate her at some dive hotel off the freeway. The boss was out of town, so I volunteered to go get her.

She was a mess when I finally got to her. I had never seen her so trashed in my life. She was celebrating the fact that she had grown the balls to tell Morelli to fuck off. I told her that I was proud of her for taking control of her life, but that she wasn't safe at that hotel. I knew that she had given up her apartment and moved in with Morelli, and that there was no way that she would go back to living with her parents until she found another place. I grabbed her two duffle bags and carted her out to my truck. None of us would be able to get any sleep with her staying in that hell hole.

I did the only thing that I could do for her. I took her, and the rodent, to my apartment. I had a decent, two bedroom apartment three blocks from the office. Ram had just moved in his with his old lady, so I was in the market for a room mate anyway. Not that I'd actually let Steph pay for anything. She had past out on the drive to my place and I took that opportunity to call Tank. He thought that I had made the right decision in regards to taking Steph back to my apartment. Things had been a little rocky with Ranger lately and neither of us thought that she'd want to live in a RangeMan apartment.

It took me sixteen long nights to get her into my bed, where she belonged. I didn't even realize that I had wanted her until I heard her whisper my name as I carried her up the stairs to my apartment that night. She had snuggled into me and softly kissed my neck in the middle of whatever dream she was having. I almost came unglued right there on the stairs! She was soft and warm and she had just whispered my name in her sweet little voice.

That moment had changed my life forever. The ring that sat in my desk drawer at the office was going to change her life forever. Not in a bad, stay at home, Burg wife way. I loved that she drove me crazy with all of the nutty things that she'd get herself into. I can't imagine Steph barefoot and pregnant. If she wants to have one, I'm fine with that, but I can't see her tied to a house with a little monster wrapped around her leg. I didn't want the Burg life for her.

I've seen her change over the last few months. Leaving Morelli was the best thing for her to do. Not because it opened the door for me, but because she was free to do what it was that he never wanted her to do. She was the feisty Bombshell Bounty Hunter. The second night that she was living with me, she shouted that she hated her hair. I had told her, as I was about to walk out the door, that my clippers were in the bathroom under the sink. When I got home from work ten hours later, she had no hair. She was sitting on the couch in the living room smiling at me when I walked in. I almost didn't recognize her and I had unconsciously drawn my gun. Once I got myself pulled together, I realized how happy she was. Other little things started changing as well. She started running with me in the morning, no more doughnuts, and even target practice. She was getting to be a really good shooter.

Everything changed eighty-four nights ago. She had flown into the control room after getting a big skip and begged me to take her out to celebrate. She knew that I loved to go clubbing and asked me to take her out dancing. She had come to me. It was like a dream come true. I threw her over my shoulder and ran out of the room. I had just gotten off work and I didn't want to waste a second. I was in heaven all night as we danced for hours. She was so alive in my arms. I think that it might had been the last beer that I drank that gave me the courage to kiss her. I thank God everyday for that last beer.

So, on the morning of the eighty-fifth day, I find myself pulling away from a clients house. I had spent a hour there upgrading their system and checking all of the sensors. I was driving down the freeway, heading back to Haywood, when my cell rang. I checked the caller I.D. before I answered. The control room.

"Talk," I said when I answered my phone.

"Steph's Jeep just went off the grid. Her last know location was…"

I was already pulling of the freeway and heading to her last known location before I hung up on Lester. A smile twitched at the corner of my mouth when I saw the flashing lights in the distance. I knew that she was just fine before I could even see her. My 'Steph Radar' was that good. I pulled in behind a police cruiser and jumped out of the Bronco. The sight before me was a disaster of epic proportions. I found Steph standing next to her Jeep.

"It wasn't my fault," she shouted as I approached.

"Of course it wasn't," I said as I scanned the street for the nearest do-it-yourself car wash. "You want to tell me what happened?"

"Not really," she said on a deflated sigh.

I simply looked over at her and waited. I knew if I stood there long enough, she would cave. So, i stood there and looked at the love of my life. Her hair had grown out some and she currently liked to spike it out everywhere like a little pixy. Her hair was definately ruined. She was wearing a pair of black cargos, care of RangeMan, and a white tank top. Her cute little combat boots were peeking out from the bottom of her pants. She had looked exoticly dangerous when she left the apartment thismorning. Now... there just weren't any words.

"I was chasing after Diggery, again. Somehow, he ended up behind me and rammed me into the tanker so hard that the back end of the tank broke open and spilled onto the Jeep," she said quickly.

I smiled down at her and waited one more moment.

"It's maple syrup," she whispered with a small smile.

I walked over to her and bent down slightly to sniff her head. It was definitely maple syrup. I pulled back slowly and grinned down at her. Even covered in syrup, she was the most beautiful thing that I had ever seen. The top on the Jeep had been removed and she was covered head to toe in the sticky syrup. I watched as she slowly trailed her finger up her arm and then placed her finger in her mouth. I saw her eyes flash brightly at me. This definitely wasn't the best place to have sex.

I took her non-busy, sticky hand in mine and pulled her across the street to the car wash that I had spotted. She gave a disgruntled sound as I stood her in the middle of the bay. Music was playing out of a Camry that was being cleaned out about fifty feet away. I was about to pop some quarters in the when I saw her start to dance out of the corner of my eye. I slowly turned around to get a better look at what she was doing.

Her eyes were closed and she still had her finger in her mouth. Her hand fell away as she started to sing along with the song. I leaned against the wall to watch her. It was Pat Benatar singing We Belong. I knew that she had the moves to drive me insane, but I didn't know that she had the voice of an angel. I was hypnotized as I watched her hands glide over her body while she danced around the bay. She hadn't realized that she had drifted off into her own little world.

By the time the song ended, I was six inches from her. By the time the next song came on, I had her pinned to the wall with my hands fisted in her hair and my tongue down her throat. I thought that I was going to explode right there on the spot. The taste over her always drove me crazy. Add in the mixture of the maple syrup and I was ready for a straight jacket.

She moaned against my mouth when my right hand had trailed down her neck and captured her breast. I started grinding into her once she had brought both of her legs up around my waste. Everything melted away in my mind. She was the only thing on the planet. There wasn't a doubt in my mind that I belonged to this woman. I knew that she felt it in the kiss. I was desperate to have her and I let her feel everything that I felt. She exploded into a million pieces in my arms as she moaned against my lips and bucked her hips. I trailed kisses along her jaw and down her throat as she caught her breath.

I was brought out of our erotic encounter when Big Dig's voice erupted out of a bull horn.

"Don't make me arrest you two."

I looked over across the street to see about twenty of Trenton's finest looking our way. I felt Steph start to giggle as she buried her face in my chest. She slowly unwrapped her legs from around my waste. I reluctantly released her as I pulled away. I flashed her a smile before I turned back to the control box and popped the quarters in. I grabbed the nozzle off of the wall and turned back to her.

"I love you," I said quietly as I smiled down at her.

Her whole face lit up as she grinned at me. I had never told her that before. I could never find the right time to say it. I didn't think that there ever would be a right time when it came to her. She raced up to me and threw her arms around my neck as she started peppering my face with sticky kisses. She pulled back and looked into my eyes.

"I love you, too, Woody," she whispered to me.