"His file looks pretty clear, he has the skills, but I want a full background check on him before I say yes." I look around the room at all the guys. "Extensive, nothing needs to be left out, if he has a parking ticket I want to know."

"You're really gonna trust this guy?" Tank says, not looking all too impressed.

"Trust is a loose term, big guy, tolerate is more my speed. But he has really good experience from what I read, he just needs to be cleared." I cross my arms. "I need all hands on deck here, trying to find the stalker's identity. Sebastian can protect her during the day while we work and then at night I'll be with her."

"Who's going to protect you both then?" Lester speaks up, staring at me. He's leaned up against a wall, arms crossed over his chest and his ankles loosely crossed. "If you're watching Steph, who's watching you?"

"I'm watching myself." I say, I don't expect the stalker to strike while I'm with Stephanie, no my bet is he will make his move when she's alone, that's why I'm making it a point for her to never be alone. Of course that could make him mad, possibly push him into recklessly trying to take her while fighting off one of us, but I have full confidence that we can hold our own.

Lester shakes his head. "That doesn't work for me, sweetheart. If nobody is there to protect you, then how can you fully protect Steph? Think about it, the stalker takes you out and gets Stephanie before we can get to you both. You need someone watching your back."

I stare at him, the guys around the room all seem to nod and murmur in agreement. "Fine, what do you suggest then?" I can see the sense in it, backup is a smart idea.

He smiles slightly. "Well since this Sebastian guy is going to be protecting her during the day, then we can protect you both at night by taking shifts. Watch out for anything off."

I consider it for a moment and nod. "I like it, work out the schedule and let me know."

He nods. "We'll do that."

I look around. "Any other suggestions? Or ideas?"

Hal scratches the back of his head. "I have more of a question actually." He seems a little sheepish.

"Okay…shoot." I say, sending him an odd look.

"Right," He clears his throat nervously. "Well Ranger saw Steph earlier before you sent her home and asked me what was going on…"

I get an idea where this is going. "What did you do?"

He sighs. "I panicked and said you and her were working on something big, but then he probably saw us all gather up so…I think he may be onto us, or suspicion at least." He looks down some. "Sorry."

I sigh, but shrug. "It's okay, Hal. Let me tell you guys this, if Ranger gets onto us and starts demanding answers tell him, don't put your jobs or friendship with him on the line about it, if he finds out he finds out. We'll cross that bridge when it comes, but just tell him if it can't be helped, the only reason I'm keeping him in the dark is because Steph wants it that way. If it wasn't for that I'd have him using all his resources and contacts. But that's not what she wants and I'm not going to demand she do it, so keep that in mind. Other than that I think we have it all covered. Send me the background report findings and we'll see if he fits the bill. I'm using one of my vacation days tomorrow so I'll see you guys Thursday."

I wait until everyone says bye before turning to leave, Lester follows me which I expected.

"You know, I admire the way you've approached this, you have a whole army pretty much lined up to protect, Steph. It's admirable." He says as we walk.

I smile slightly. "Thanks, Les. I'm just being thorough is all, this guy gives me the chills, he's deranged, the notes are messed up, the paint on the door…it's all just a bunch of deranged bullshit. But I have nothing, I thought at first it was one of Steph' s FTA's but they've all been cleared, so I don't know who's left." I sigh. That's the most frustrating part.

"It could be an old FTA." He offers.

"Maybe, but the intensity of it all, there's definitely a grudge but what? What did Steph do that was so damn bad?"

He sighs as well. "Maybe she didn't do anything super bad and the guys just crazy."

"Crazy isn't good, crazy has no limits, crazy gets people killed." I say, which is something my old General told me once. I never knew just how true it was until now.

"You're right, but we can't do much yet, I'm hoping Tank picks up something soon." He says.

"Me too." I get to my car and stop at the door looking back at him. "Who's taking the first shift tonight?"

His eyes shine a little as he smiles. "I am, sweetheart. Tank will take tomorrow and so on."

I smile back. "Sounds like a plan." I lean over and kiss his cheek before really thinking it over and get in my car before he can fully react, leaving him standing there stunned.

I'm just glad we're still finding good times in the bad.

OoOoOoOoOoO

I'm passed out on the couch after a long night of monopoly with Steph when my phone rings, I grimace as I open my eyes, the sun blinding me and roll over grabbing my phone. I check the caller ID.

Tank. With a sigh I click the accept button rolling back away from the sun. "Hello?"

"Hey, i'm sending you the background check now, this guy is mostly clean, some minor assault charges on drunk and disorderly but nothing that sticks out, he occasionally likes to speed but always pays the fine."

I figured, but you can never be too careful. "Okay, thank you. If I'm impressed he'll start tomorrow. Have you found anything yet?"

"No, I've gained access to some of the traffic lights surveillance but haven't found anything to go off of yet, there's a lot to go through."

"Send me some, I'll go through as much as I can." I say, getting up and going to make coffee.

"Okay, anything on your end?"

"Just that Steph is better at monopoly then I thought, and it was a long game induced angry night."

He chuckles. "Sounds like everything is normal then. Call Les and let him know you're up so he can take off his shift."

"Will do, thanks Tank." I get the pot on.

"Anytime, Alex." He disconnects and I wait for the coffee to get done before pouring a travel cup and taking it out to Les, I tap on the window as I look in. He jumps, he was reading a newspaper, don't know where he got it but okay.

"Slacking on the job, Santos?" I say with a grin when he rolls the window down.

"No, just chilling–is that coffee?" He eyes the cup.

"Sure is, Tank told me to let you off your shift, go get some sleep and call me later." I pass the cup in through the window.

He sighs, taking a gulp. "Okay, he find anything?"

I shake my head. "Not yet, but it's still early."

He chuckles and starts his car up. "Okay, well I'll head out, but when we get a free moment we're talking about that kiss."

"It was on the cheek, don't look too much into it."I say with a grin and step back.

"We're still talking about it."

I chuckle and shake my head. "Whatever you say."

We exchange a few more jabs before he drives off and I go back up, I make a cup of coffee going through the files Tank sent over before calling Sebastian. I like what I see enough, that he can have the job. A few assaults aren't that bad, most tough little guard type guys have some.

"You can start tomorrow but we're gonna go through some rules in the morning. Got it?"

"Got it." He says, not questioning much else. Good.

"Okay. 8 sharp, don't be late and I'll send you the address."

"Sounds like a plan." He says, he sounds very formal, which is good he's taking it seriously.

I nod to myself and hang up, finally glad to kick my feet up and chill for a little while this morning before I spend my day helping Steph with skips. Oh what a jot that will be.

A/N: This one is pretty short and not very action packed but I wanted some fun moments before things get low down and serious, also it's getting close to the end of the year so the next two months are going to be packed for me with school so updates might be slow. I have started pre-wrintg some chapters but haven't made it far. Hope you like this little bit, I think we'll do a POV switch to Steph soon.

Have a great day/night everyone ~Abi