Thanks for the reviews! Everything familiar belongs to JE. All mistakes are mine.

Chapter 12

I ignored Ranger and invited Kevin inside.

"We were in the middle of eating breakfast. Are you hungry?" I asked Kevin.

"Starved darling" Kevin said.

We walked back to the dining room and Ranger followed us. Tank, Lula and Lester were starting to look better.

"Kevin, this is Ranger, Tank, Lula, and Lester. Guys this is Kevin." I said making introductions.

"Hey guys. Stephanie's told me about all of you. It's nice to meet you." Kevin said.

They started chatting, well everyone except Ranger. He just sat there watching everyone. I went to the kitchen to make Kevin an omelet. I brought him his food and sat down to finish my breakfast.

"Thanks for the food gorgeous."

"You're welcome. What are you going here anyways? I didn't think you were coming until tomorrow."

"I've missed you so much I decided to come early" Kevin said winking at me. He figured out that Ranger was jealous of him and he was egging him on. Oh I've missed Kevin.

"I've missed you too." I said smiling at him. "We're supposed to go to my parents' house for dinner tomorrow."

"Sounds good darling, can't wait to meet them." I swear I think I heard Ranger growl.

"Thanks for the pancakes and taking care of us last night and this morning beautiful." Lester said. Lula and Tank nodded in agreement.

"You're welcome guys."

"I like your house little girl. I'm glad you finally got your life figured out." Tank said.

"Yeah white girl, I'm proud of you" said Lula.

"Aww thanks guys!"

We all finished our breakfast and put our dishes in the sink. We went into the living room and there was another knock on the door. It was Connie and Cal.

"Hey Bomber, I was just dropping Connie off to get her car. We thought we'd say hello." Cal said.

"Everyone else is still here. You can come in." I said.

"I've got a baby shower to go to today so I'm going to head home." Connie said. "I'll see you both later." Then she headed to her car. Cal followed me into the living room.

"Kevin?" Cal said when he spotted Kevin.

"Hey man" Kevin said standing up and giving Cal a hug.

"What are you doing here? And how's Shawn?"

"Shawn's doing good and I'm here visiting Stephanie. She's been working for me the past year at my bonds office in Salem. We've gotten really close and I had to come see her." Kevin said.

"Cool man. We'll have to get together while you're in town and catch up."

"How do you two know each other?" Lester asked.

"We were in the Marines together." Cal said.

"A marine huh?" Lester said. "Damn beautiful you sure do get around. Morelli was navy, Ranger was army and now a marine. Next you gonna find yourself an air force guy?" Kevin gave a huge smile and wrapped an arm around me. I definitely heard Ranger growl that time. Lester obviously thought we were a couple too. I hadn't told him that Kevin was gay either.

No one had anything to say to that statement so we just all sat there.

"I should get going" Lula said breaking the silence. "You want a ride home Tankie Bear?"

"Sure Lula." Tank said.

"I should get going to." Cal said.

"Can I ride back to Rangeman with you?" Lester asked.

"Yeah come on man." Cal said.

"Lester" Ranger said "You've got an appointment with me on the mats everyday for a week at 0500 for not showing up at work this morning."

"Shit" Lester said.

They all left which left me alone with just Ranger and Kevin. This was awkward.

"Babe, I wanted to finish our conversation from this morning."

"I know, but not right now. I want to show Kevin around town." I said.

"Okay babe" Ranger said not looking happy. He gave both of us a nod and left.

"Shit that man's intense." Kevin said after Ranger was gone.

"You have no idea." I said. I told Kevin about Ranger's confession at dinner.

"He was looking at me like he wanted to kill me. I take it he doesn't know I'm gay?"

"Nope" I said smiling.

"You're evil darling" Kevin said.

"I know!"

I gave Kevin a tour of my house and then we spent the rest of the day shopping and showing him around town. Sunday we had dinner at my parents' house. It went as expected. My dad didn't say much, my mom tried her hardest to keep her snarky remarks to herself and instead asked Kevin questions about my life in Salem, and Grandma Mazur grabbed Kevin's ass a couple of times and commented about his package.

Monday morning Cal called Kevin and asked if he wanted to go to lunch. Kevin said yes and they agreed to meet at Rangeman so Cal could show Kevin around. Cal invited me too but I figured I'd let them have their guy time so I went to the bonds office to see if there was new skips.

Kevin's POV

I headed over to Rangeman to meet up with Cal. We went to lunch first and caught up on each other's lives. Cal has always been a good friend and was one of the few people in our platoon that didn't give me and Shawn shit for being gay. Cal asked me about Stephanie's life the past year. I told him about it then asked him some questions of my own.

"What's the deal with Stephanie and Ranger?"

"As far as everyone at Rangeman can tell they are both in love with each other. But they both have major commitment issues too. Bomber was also always going back and forth with that cop. Then one day she just disappeared so we didn't know what to think. Ranger was horrible the whole time she was gone. We've never seen him that moody. We're hoping they'll both finally pull their heads out of their asses and get together." Cal said.

We drove back to Rangeman and Cal gave me a tour. It was an impressive business. When we got to the control room someone asked Cal if he could help with something. Cal told me he'd be right back and walked off with the other guy. I saw Ranger come off of the elevator and walked into an office that I'm assuming was his. I knew Stephanie would hate me for what I was about to do but it was for her own good. I walked to his office and knocked on the open door. He looked up and didn't look to happy to see me.

"Come in" he said and nodded to the chair in front of his desk, so I sat down in it.

"What can I do for you?" he asked.

"We need to talk" I said, "about Stephanie." Then Ranger sat back in his chair and slid his blank face on.