Ranger wasn't a fan of crowds. They disrupted the natural flow of things, and he was a big fan of flow. Thankfully the movie theater they were in was not filled to capacity. He figured it was probably because the movie had been out for a while, and the public had moved onto the next "blockbuster hit". He was ready to move on too- to his apartment at were any number of more important things he could've been doing rather than wasting two hours sitting in a too dark room with minimal exit points. What had he been thinking when he agreed to this crazy outing? Oh, that's right, he wasn't at the time. Marissa had looked so dejected when he'd balked at Dr. Paisley's asinine assignment that he'd given in just to appease her. As much as he was a badass, he had a soft spot for the people in his life that he regarded as friends; and Marissa was one of his best.

He'd had some shitty assignments before, but this one took the cake. His elbow brushed against his side, and he was acutely aware of the void that was left by his nonexistent gun. Said gun was locked in a safe back at RangeMan. His backup gun which was usually strapped to his ankle was also in the safe. He felt as though he'd lost two of his closest friends and he squelched down the restless feeling that had been prodding him all day. He looked at his watch. An hour and fifty minutes to go. Damn.

Marissa fidgeted at his side. She was staring intently at the screen, but Ranger knew that her mind was a few rows over to where Joe and Stephanie were sitting. He could feel the tension rolling off of her in waves. Little did she know that Stephanie was with Joe all because of him. Two weeks ago he'd stayed late to finish up some paperwork, but his mind had not been on the contracts and payroll reports in front of him. Instead, they were with a certain curly-haired brunette down the hall. Then as if she'd read his mind she had knocked on his door and asked him a question that even now he still didn't know how to answer.

"Do you want me?"

One question. Four words. No real answer. Well, no answer that would've made any sense to Stephanie. His feelings for her were beyond wanting. No, what he felt for her was an overwhelming feeling of consummation. He wanted to inhale her until every cell of his body was infused with her essence. The potency of the thought scared him to his core. He'd promise himself a long time ago that no woman was ever going to have control over him like that again. That kind of control was manipulative and destructive. And true to his word no woman, since Rachel, had ever gotten that close to him again –except Stephanie.

Ranger stared at the woman before him who was nervously wringing her hands unsure as to how to answer her question.

"Where is this coming from?" he asked cautiously.

She huffed out a sigh. "It's coming from the fact that I've been practically throwing myself at you all week and you've barely even acknowledged my actions."

He continued to stare at her. God, she could be confusing at times.

"Babe, I have been responding. But every time I go to take it further you run away."

"I do not!" she responded hotly.

He quirked an eyebrow at her indicating his skepticism.

"I…it's just…it's just that you can be kinda intense sometimes."

"Intense?"

"Yeah. You know? You go into Batman Mode."

"Batman mode?"

"Mysterious, dangerous, scary." She checked each characteristic off on her fingers.

"I scare you Babe?"

Stephanie chewed on her lower lip. Oh boy.

"I think…well it's not like you're super scary. What…what I mean is, I like your kind of scary. A lot."

Ranger's lips twitched. "Anything else you like about me?"

He watched as she swallowed heavily and cleared her throat nervously.

"I err… I like that you seem to like me a little." she replied softly.

"Just a little?"

Her eyes held his. "Well you never gave any indication of more than that."

"Maybe I like you too much." he admitted.

Her eyes widened, and then narrowed. "Don't play with me Ranger."

Oh how he wish he was.

"I'm not." he rasped out.

"Then why won't you let me in?"

"Because that would be dangerous and foolish, not to mention selfish as other lives would be at stake."

She cocked her head to the side trying to understand his logic. "That explains nothing."

"It's all I can say."

Stephanie threw her hands up in frustration. "Why do you always have to keep me in the dark all the damn time? I can handle the truth you know."

"It's the way it has to be." he replied solemnly, hating the fact that he was treating her in this manner.

She deserved the truth. But what she didn't deserve was the consequences of her knowing it. It would've been freeing to tell her about his black op missions, and what he does when he "in the wind", but if his superiors found out about his loose lips Stephanie would be the one to bear the deadly consequences, while he would just get a disciplinary letter in his file. The wheels of fair justice did not spin at high government levels that's for sure.

"So you never answered my question." Stephanie said breaking into his thoughts. "Do you want me?"

Like water to a man in the desert. But he didn't tell her that. Couldn't tell her that. At least not until he got rid of some of the behaviors and people in his life.

"In my own way." he answered softly, knowing it wasn't what she wanted to hear.

"I need more than that." she said as she rounded the desk to stand in front of him. Her scent enveloped him, and he could feel the heat of her body tugging on his, and the primal urge he'd kept suppressed when she walked into his office was now fighting to be unleashed.

"More than what?" he managed to ask from his now restricted throat.

"That lame ass answer. What the hell is wrong with you? Don't you get what I'm asking you here?"

He looked up at her and his heart slammed into his chest when he encountered her pained blue eyes. "I get it, but I can't give you the answer you want. At least not right now."

"When?"

"That's not up to me Babe." He tried to make his voice as soothing as possible, hoping that she would understand that this wasn't easy for him to say to her.

Her head fell forward and a tear slid off the tip of her nose. Fuck! This was not how he wanted to make her feel. He wanted her to be angry. Anger was so much easier to deal with than pain; especially emotional pain that he was the cause of.

Please be mad at me Babe, he pleaded silently.

Her head rose and she looked at him through a watery gaze. "Is it because of Agent Carter?"

"What do you mean?" he asked slowly.

Stephanie sniffled. "Is it because you're seeing her."

What? "I'm not seeing her. We're just friends."

"Friends with benefits?"

Whoa.

"This has nothing to do with Mari." he answered as he reached out and pulled her onto his lap. To his relief she curled herself into him and buried her face in his neck. They stayed like that for long minutes, just holding on to one another; words no longer a necessary part of their communication.

A week later word got back to him that she and Morelli were seeing each other again. The old emotions of jealousy and regret burned a hole in his stomach the night he found out, but he knew it was the way it had to be. Stephanie and the cop had a cycle to their emotional entanglement. Fight, break-up, fight some more, get back together. That was the nature of their relationship. He loved Stephanie; always would. But the reality was that she needed someone that was compatible with her. Ranger knew he wasn't. His life was too dark for her. He was a warrior. Where Stephanie's life was filled up with family dinners, food, friends and shopping, his was filled with black ops, assault weapons, government agencies, death and a sense of his days being numbered. It wasn't the best life, but it was the life he had chosen. And with it he'd had to make great sacrifices, including not being in his daughter's life as much as he wanted.

After the Scrog incident Rachel and Ron had met with him to "discuss" his presence in Julie's life. The end result was him regrettably agreeing to cutting off all physical contact with Julie until his life got more normal. That in itself was a joke because they all knew that that day would never come. Julie surprised him though by telling him that no matter what he would always be her dad, and that she hoped one day to "kick some butt" with him. Even now her comment brought a smile to his face when he thought back on it. Yeah, Julie really was his daughter.

So for now Ranger surrounded himself with people who were on his threat-assessment level. His men and Marissa. It made his life easier to manage knowing that his friends knew their way around a variety of weapons and the seedy side of life. Plus, it came in handy when he needed back-up in less than savory conditions and the occasional "grey areas" he always seemed to find himself involved in. That's what friends were for, right?

He reached over and laced his fingers with Marissa's cold ones offering his silent support. He smiled when she squeezed his hand and leaned in and rested her head on his shoulder. God, how many years had passed since he'd done this with a woman? It felt oddly familiar to him, yet the act was throwing him for a loop. The lights in the theater dimmed some more and the opening credits of the movie rolled up on the screen. In his peripheral he saw Zero get up and move to stand at the entrance of the theater. This was a maneuver they had planned back at the office as it gave Zero a sweeping view of the room. Unbeknownst to Marissa and the rest of the patrons, Zero had a pair of night vision goggles tucked into one of the cargo pockets of his pants, along with a Sig Sauer holstered at his side. A Seal's knife was also strapped to his ankle, and military grade pepper spray hung from his belt. Standard equipment when out in the field.

A giggling couple stumbled their way into the row in front of where he sat, and Ranger wondered just what it would feel like to be that carefree again. He used to be like that in what felt like a past lifetime; before experiences both horrific and soul-changing shaped him into the man he was now. But someday…someday he was going to be normal again.

Yeah, someday when you're dead, a voice said in his head.

Wasn't that the damn truth?

Marissa's voice broke into his thoughts.

"I'm hungry." she whispered. This was validated by her stomach emitting a loud growl.

Ranger let go of her hand and dug into his inner jacket pocket and pulled out a granola bar. "Ta-da. Snacks."

He tossed the bar into her lap. Marissa let it fall onto the floor.

"We're at a movie theater and you want me to eat a granola bar?" she asked incredulously. "What are you? A prison guard?"

"You said you were hungry."

"Yes, but not desperate. I think I'll hold out until the movie's over. I don't want to miss anything."

Her attention shifted back to the screen, and in that moment Ranger realized that no matter how long he lived he would never figure out how the mind of a woman worked. His eyes scanned the interior of the room committing to memory how many people were in the space. Force of habit. In his line of work paying attention to the details was valuable in case the shit hit the fan and you needed a head count later on. Some might call that paranoia; he called it covering his ass.

After he was satisfied with his head count he leaned back and tried to concentrate on the movie. Natalie Portman was a good actress, and very easy on the eyes. She was a little thin for Ranger's liking though. He liked his women with fully-rounded hips and thighs. And he had a weakness for a firm, round J-Loesque butt. He blamed his Latin genes for that.

Twenty minutes into the movie and Ranger found himself at odds with the Ashton Kutcher character. Who the hell calls every woman listed in their cell phone? Not him that's for sure. So Ashton was upset because of what his father did. Understandable. But losing control of one's dignity was not acceptable. If it were him he would've gone and worked out for a few hours, downed a couple of glasses of scotch, and then visited a high class madam he knew and released some of his pent up frustrations and hard earned money. Then he would've gotten on with his life. Simple, effective, and no one got hurt in the process. But Ranger figured for the sake of artistic expression the writers wrote the script like they did. Society did love a hard-earned love story.

Marissa was beginning to wonder just what she was thinking when she coerced Ranger into going along with her on this assignment. She liked Natalie Portman just fine. Also, Ashton Kutcher was great eye candy, and the storyline was sucking her in with its witty banter and believability. But the real show was the couple sitting in front of Ranger who were in the midst of playing Touch My Tonsils with their tongues. Marissa had forgotten the heightened lure to be licentious in a dark movie theater. You would think that after paying such a hefty price for a movie ticket one would want to get their money's worth by viewing every scene – even the credits. Marissa cut her eyes to Ranger. His head was lying against the headrest; his features were completely relaxed while his eyes were glued to the screen. How could he sit there so still and calm-looking while a semi porn-fest was happening right before him? Unbelievable.

She nudged his arm and he looked at her. She inclined her head in the direction of the couple and scrunched up her face. Ranger shrugged and went back to looking at the screen. What the hell?

Marissa nudged him again.

"What?" he whispered as he leaned in close to her.

"I can't concentrate on the movie while those two are slobbering over each other. Do something."

Ranger signaled to Cal. When he got his attention he discreetly pointed in front of him and made a slicing motion in front of his throat.

Marissa eyes went wide. "Did you just tell Cal to kill these people?" she whispered.

Ranger stared at her. "I told him to take care of the problem." he whispered back.

Marissa held her breath and watched as Cal walked into the next row and pulled the couple apart by their hair. Yikes!

"Hey!" the guy exclaimed. "What the fuck are you doing?"

A few people turned around to see what the commotion was all about. Thankfully none of them were Joe or Stephanie, Marissa observed with great relief. Hopefully he would never know she was even here as she planned to leave as soon as the first letter of the credits began rolling.

She watched as Cal leaned down close to the guy's face and whispered something. Even in the dim light Marissa knew fear when she saw it, and whatever Cal had told Mr. Loverboy was enough for him to grab the girl and scamper from his seat and out the theater.

Ranger turned to Marissa and smiled. "Happy?"

She frowned at him. "No, I am not happy. What the hell did Cal say to them?"

Ranger shrugged. "Does it matter? You wanted them to stop what they were doing and they did."

"Yeah. Stop playing tonsil hockey, not go running for their lives. Why do you always have to take things to the extreme?"

Ranger shrugged. "Where I come from if you want a problem solved you make sure there's no blowback."

"Has it ever occurred to you that those tactics should only be applied in war-torn countries?"

"No."

"Christ."

Ranger stared at her. "Would you like to leave now?"

She shook her head. "We can't leave. Dr. Paisley's instructions were to stay for the entire movie."

"And how would he know if we stayed or not?"

"Carlos, you and I both know that somewhere in this theater we're being watched, be it remotely or physically."

She did have a point there, Ranger thought.

"Be that as it may," he said, "The moment you're ready to roll I'm on your six."

Ranger knew Paisley was no fool. But then again neither was he. The day before he'd had Tank and Lester hack into the multiplex's surveillance camera server, which had then resulted in a live feed being run back at RangeMan. All Ranger had to do was give the word and Tank would run interference on the line, looping the previously recorded video. Getting out the building would prove to be trickier, but since the manager of the multiplex was a friend of Ranger's he'd all ready arranged for them to use the service entrance. And right outside the door was a beat up old white delivery van that Ranger used for surveillance. By the time anyone realized what was going on he and Marissa would be back at RangeMan safe and secure.

Marissa narrowed her eyes at him. "You did something didn't you?"

"Like what?" he asked innocently.

"I don't know yet, but I know you did something." Her eyes roamed around the dark interior, then up at the ceiling before moving along their row. Cal sat by himself.

"Where's Zero?" she asked.

"Entrance way." Ranger murmured.

Marissa's gaze swiveled and then her jaw dropped. "Are those night vision goggles?"

Ranger stayed silent.

"I knew it!" she whispered fiercely. "I knew…"

"You're missing the movie." Ranger interjected quickly. He really didn't want to argue with her about being tactically ready for anything. "I think something's about to happen between Natalie and Ashton."

Marissa glared at him." Something's about to happen between you and me."

"Later." Ranger said as he gave her his best wolf grin.

Marissa threw her hands up in frustration. The man was infuriating.

With as loud, angry huff she sank back in her seat and forced her concentration on what was going on on the big screen. The actors were talking. She looked at her watch. An hour and five minutes to go. Damn. Her eyes cut across the room to Joe and Stephanie. His arm was resting on the seatback and Stephanie's head lay comfortably on his shoulder. Marissa sighed. Ranger had been right. This wasn't such a great idea.