Once again, I don't own them and I'm not making any money… Thank you all for reading and for all the wonderful reviews. I'm sorry this chapter took a bit longer than normal, I'll try to do better with the next.

What Happens in Vegas…

Chapter 6

At my door, Ranger pulled out his gun and motioned for me to stay in the hall way while he cleared the apartment. I waited. And waited. And just when I was starting to worry I heard Ranger call out.

"Babe, it's all clear, but you better come in and see this."

Standing with my hand on the door knob, I debated whether I really wanted to go in there or not. God only knows what had happened this time. After a few minutes, I decided that eventually, I'd have to go in. Now I just had to do it.

"Babe?" came from within the apartment.

"I'm coming," I answered, summoning up my courage and pushing the door open.

Inside, I found that my apartment had once again been vandalized. And it wasn't even done creatively. Things had just been strewn about, emptied, knocked over and off of surfaces. It was a mess, but no real damage seemed to have been done. At least it hadn't been set on fire and there were no body parts this time.

"Babe?" Ranger asked again when he saw me just standing there staring.

"Why does this always happen to me? Why didn't the psycho wreck your apartment?"

"Because mine is at the top of a secure building and only accessible with a key pad," Ranger answered logically.

"I guess this proves your point," I said, sighing and heading for my bedroom to look for stuff to pack.

Finding everything wasn't hard, as every article of clothing I owned was strewn about my floor. Grabbing a bag which had been pulled down from my closet shelf, I started picking things up and throwing them in. When I was done, I crawled around my bathroom floor looking for the necessities before returning to the living.

In my living room, I came upon one of the strangest things I had ever seen. Ranger was kneeling on the floor, looking under the couch with his ass in the air. Stifling a giggle, I watched him reach a hand under the couch, withdraw it and try again. I couldn't help it after that, and the giggle escaped me.

"Do you want to try?" Ranger asked when he turned to the sound.

"What are you doing?"

"Not only was all your stuff dumped but so was Rex's cage. He's under the couch not wanting to be caught."

"Rex?' I asked, quickly joining Ranger on the floor. Poor Rex, he would sometimes make a bid for freedom when I was cleaning his cage, but once he was free he never liked it. And he always hid under the couch in that spot way in the back where I couldn't reach him.

In the end, it took both of us half an hour, a broom and a laundry basket to get Rex out from under the couch and capture him. Once he was caught, I quickly grabbed him, careful to avoid his teeth since he was sure to be worked up, and dropped him back in his cage. His shavings had been dumped all over the floor, so I added some more and picked up his soup can, promising I'd do more to fix his tank up later.

Ranger grabbed my bag and headed for the door and, with one last look at my wrecked apartment, I picked up Rex and followed. This time, we took the elevator back to the ground floor and headed across the lot towards the dumpster where Ranger was parked.

When we arrived at the Porsche I felt myself cringe. By the light of the street lamp I could see a long silver scratch, running the length of the car, keyed into the black paint. Looking on the other side we found a matching mark. It had to have been the person who shot at us and wrecked my apartment because no one else would be stupid enough to do that. It was kind of common knowledge that I was the only one that ever got away with harming Ranger's vehicles.

"Not good, Babe," Ranger said, staring at the scratch on the driver's side.

"I'm sure Al can fix it," I assured him.

"Of course Al can fix it, but that's not what I was talking about. This means he followed us. Let's get back to Rangeman, I feel exposed here."

Just as he said that, shots rang out and I heard the sound of bullets embedding themselves in the car. I reflexively ducked down and crouched over Rex's cage. Ranger pulled his gun and turned to where the shots had come from.

When it was quiet for about a minute, he motioned me to get up and get in the car. Then he followed me in and we took off for the safety of the Rangeman building. I was suddenly feeling quite glad to be staying there.

After a couple of blocks, I released the death-grip I had on Rex's cage and stuck my finger in his soup can to rub his head and make sure he was okay. For some reason that action made Ranger laugh out loud.

"What?" I asked.

"Only you, Babe, would have maternal instincts aimed at hamsters. You were protecting that cage with your body."

"He's a good listener," I said, defending my affection for my pet.

"Babe," Ranger said and then slipped back into his zone.

The rest of the trip was made in silence. When we were back to the building, we headed straight for the seventh floor, but Ranger didn't stay. He said he needed to go fill the guys in on the break in at my apartment, the shooting in my parking lot and have them dust the car and apartment for prints. He told me to get myself settled in and he would be back up for our talk as quickly as possible.

So now I was facing the challenge of settling myself into Rangers space… again. The difference was, this time he was here. I wasn't sure what to do with my stuff. Did I hang my clothing in the closet or did I live out of my bag. Whenever I lived with Joe, I left my things in my laundry basket which made it easier when I moved out. Somehow, that didn't feel right with Ranger.

After some thought, I remembered how Ranger had move into my apartment during the Scrog mess and my conundrum was solved. I decided to go ahead and stick my stuff in the closet, bathroom and where ever else it needed to go to be settled.

I was all unpacked and just feeding Rex a couple whole wheat crackers I had found in Ranger's cupboard, when Ranger returned.

"Hey, Babe," he said, when he spotted me in the kitchen.

"Hey. You get everything taken care of?" I asked, stalling for time before we got down to our talk.

"Yeah. You ready to talk?"

"I gue-e-s-s," I said thought a huge yawn. That's when I looked at the clock. It was after midnight.

"You want to put it off another day?" Ranger asked, doing some ESP when he saw me yawn.

"Please. It's been a long day what with getting shot at, dinner with my family, a fight with Joe, you getting shot and my apartment getting wrecked. I just want to sleep."

"You had a fight with Joe?" Ranger asked, of course focusing in on that.

"Yeah, he was at my apartment when I got back from my parents. He'd heard about us getting married and wasn't very happy."

"Are you two going to be okay?"

"No, but we were done before the trip to Vegas. Now it's just questionable if we can still be friends."

"Babe, I'm sorry," Ranger said.

"Don't be," I said, giving him a weak smile. "Joe's just jealous he never thought to take me to Vegas and get me drunk enough to marry him."

"Probably," Ranger said, giving me a smile now.

After that, I let out another ear splitting yawn, so Ranger sent me off to get ready for bed. I washed my face, brushed my teeth, pilfered one of his t-shirts to sleep in and was standing in the middle of the room at a loss when Ranger walked in.

"Couch or bed, Babe?" he asked.

That was exactly what I'd been wondering. I wasn't sure how long this living arrangement was going to last and I didn't want to be stuck on the couch for a long period of time. But if I slept in the bed, Ranger would be there. We'd been able to share a bed before though and I'd controlled myself, so I could now…

"Bed," I finally answered.

"Alright. Why don't you get yourself tucked in? I'm gonna grab a shower and I'll be out in a few minutes."

He headed into the bathroom and I climbed into bed. I love his sheets! I was tossing and turning as I listened to the shower, unable to relax thanks to images of Ranger in the shower that kept popping into my head. Eventually, he came out of the bathroom wearing his silk boxers and joined me in bed.

Feeling awkward, I flipped over so my back was to him and tried once again to get comfortable. I was just about to try another position when Ranger grabbed my waist and pulled my back to his front. Realizing this was what I had been looking for, I let myself relax and fell asleep surrounded by the smell of Ranger and fresh Bulgari.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Hours later, I was jerked from a deep sleep by the sound of an alarm. I started to reach out for it, trying to find it and make it stop when a hand grabbed my wrist. Immediately freezing, I spent a moment to take stock of my surroundings.

My momentary fear had brought me quickly awake, but it quickly ended when I remembered I was at Rangeman and realized the hand belonged to Ranger. When he released my wrist, he reached out and shut off the alarm and I took notice of how we were laying. Ranger was on his back, with one arm wrapped around me and I was lying on my stomach, across his chest with my head on his shoulder and one leg between his.

"Sorry," I whispered as I slid off of him.

"Don't worry about it. I like waking up like that," he said, leaning over and pressing a kiss to my scary morning hair before getting off the bed. "I'm gonna go for a run and take a shower, you go back to sleep. It's still early."

"Mkay," I said, already feeling the effects of being awake too early. I wasn't going to make it much longer.

I remember him going into the bathroom but not coming out. I was very thankful of Ranger's ability to not make a sound as he moved about since it meant I didn't hear him getting ready for his run. Then again, it's not like I'm a light sleeper.

The next thing I knew, I felt a hand moving up and down my side and a pair of lips pressing themselves to my forehead.

"Wake up, Babe," I heard from above me.

"Nuh uh," I said, pulling the blanket up over my head.

And then the blanket was gone.

"It's 8:45, time to be up."

"Too early," I argued, blindly searching for another blanket.

"Babe, if you don't get up you're going to miss breakfast when Ella delivers it."

That got me moving. I was relatively certain that Ella would bring me breakfast later if I asked, but I didn't want to test the theory.

"That's a low blow," I grumbled sitting up and rubbing my eyes.

"I know," Ranger said, picking me up off the bed and pointing me in the direction of the bathroom. "Now go shower and by the time you're done breakfast will be here."

"Mkay," I said, shuffling towards the bathroom.

Once there, I took care of Mother Nature then climbed into the shower. This definitely beats staying at my apartment, I thought. Ranger's shower was wonderful with it's multiple shower heads, unlimited hot water and Bulgari shower gel. Lathering up with the Bulgari, I remembered the last time I had used it a couple nights ago before going out with the guys and waking up married to Ranger…

That led to serious thoughts that really brought me down from my shower high. Today we were going to have to have 'the talk.' I really wasn't looking forward to it. I guess it was time though… We'd been married now for about three days and still hadn't addressed the issue. To be honest, I just wanted us to go back to the way things were. Sure there had been the whole 'Ranger doesn't do relationships' thing, but this had potential to hurt us.

I was just sulking over this thought, when I noticed I was starting to get seriously pruney so I shut off the water and wrapped myself in a fluffy towel. I ran some gel though my hair, but decided to let it air dry. Then, peeking around the bathroom door into the bedroom, I held my towel to myself as I headed for the dressing area off Ranger's closet.

Eventually, I was dressed, styled and had applied a full face of makeup. There was nothing left for me to do to put off going out to the kitchen and meeting Ranger.

So, feeling like I was facing the gallows, I opened the bedroom door and made my way out. I found Ranger sitting at the bar, reading a news paper and eating a bagel. He looked so much like a regular guy I had to let out a giggle.

"Something funny, Babe?" he asked, folding his paper and laying it aside.

"You just looked so… normal," I said, giggling again at the image in my head.

"Babe," Ranger said, shaking his head.

Ignoring the head shaking, I settled myself on the stool next to him and grabbed a bagel which I lathered with cream cheese. Seeing how I was preparing my breakfast, Ranger grabbed one of the bananas from the tray and sat it in front of me. I just gave him an eye roll.

When I finished my breakfast plus banana, I looked up to find Ranger watching me intently. Looks like it's time…

"So," he started, like every other time we'd tried to have this talk.

"So," I answered before stating the obvious... "I think we've got this part of the talk down."

"Yeah, we do, now we've got to work on the rest of it."

"Now?"

"Now," Ranger said, giving me a look that said there was no getting out of it this time. "I'm completely unavailable unless there's an emergency."

"Okay, but can we go do this in the living room where it's more comfortable?" I asked, suddenly needing to stall for any time I could get. Besides, the chances of an emergency coming up really weren't that slim.

"Sure," Ranger answered.

"Where do we start?"

"Babe, I think it'd be best if we just dove right in and started with the big issue." There was no need to state what the big issue was; it was the one that had been in the back of my mind for a couple days now… what we were going to do about this marriage?

"So, what are we going to do?" I whispered.

"Babe, I want you to remember that I do love you, but my life still doesn't lend itself to relationships."

"I know," I said, not able to meet his eyes. "And it's not like we had that kind of relationship, but there was something between us. I don't want to have permanently damaged that."

"We'll still be friends and things will be like before even if there is a divorce between us," Ranger said adamantly and I had to look up. And then I looked back down as soon as I was hit with the realization that the d-word had finally been said.

"I guess I just associate 'it' so strongly with my horrible experience with the Dick," I said softly. "It looks like I've lost my friendship with Joe, but I couldn't handle loosing you too. I just want things to be normal between us."

"They will be, Babe," Ranger promised, reaching out and pulling me from my end of the couch to snuggle into his side.

"I care about you too much," I admitted in a whisper.

"I care about you too, Babe, and a lot of days I don't know what to do about that. I don't let people close, but somehow you managed it."

"But us being married is wrong…" I said, not really sure where that statement was meant to go. I just needed to say something.

"Yeah," Ranger agreed in a tone that sounded a bit gruffer than his normal tone.

"So we need to get a divorce," I stated, although it felt quite a bit like a question also.

"I think that would be best," Ranger said.

"When?"

"We probably shouldn't wait too long. I know my mother will start to get attached to the idea of me being married and I bet yours is the same."

"Yeah," I agreed. "But can we at least wait until after we've dealt with the guy stalking us. I don't think I can handle getting stalked and divorced at the same time."

"Alright, Babe," Ranger said, giving me a little squeeze. "Let's plan to deal with one problem at a time and before we know it, things will be back to normal."

"I think we've put more planning into our divorce than we put into our wedding," I said, shaking my head a bit and burying my face in Ranger's chest.

"We don't know that for sure," Ranger replied, giving me another squeeze.

I just relaxed into him. Suddenly, everything felt like it was going to be okay. Things were going to go back to normal and Ranger and I would go back to sharing the 'thing' that wasn't a relationship that we had. Ranger would continue loving me in his own way and I would go back to loving him and hiding it… and it would be okay. I just had to keep telling myself that.

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A/N: Well, I hope you liked it. Please review and let me know what you thought of 'the talk.'