Disclaimer: Not Mine I'm making no money.

I'd been out of the hospital for all of 12 hours now and I was going to go insane. Bobby was dropping by every two hours to take my blood pressure and temp, Lester kept dropping in to see if I needed anything and Tank… He just hovered. I knew they were just concerned, but I was going nuts. I heard a knock on the apartment door and a quick glance at the clock on the wall told me it was Bobby coming in for a vital check again. Tank answered the door and let Bobby in. I shifted on the couch to look at Bobby as he started to walk towards me.

"Seriously? Bobby It's only been an hour and forty five minutes!"

"Well that's because your BP was slightly elevated the last time."

I took a deep breath and spoke through gritted teeth trying not to scream at him. "Bobby my BP was elevated because I was trying REALLY hard not to grab that thermometer and make you an unwilling participant in my experiment to find out if rectal temperatures really are more accurate."

I watched as his eyes widened as the implied threat finally dawned on him.

"Angie, I have to keep tabs on you, make sure you don't start getting septic, especially now that you are eating solid foods again."

I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. "Bobby…. We both know that a low grade fever with out abdominal pain and vomiting is nothing. I'll make you a deal. If I promise to send Tank for you at the slightest indication of discomfort will you agree to only take vitals every oh I don't know… eight hours?"

I watched Bobby flick his eyes nervously towards Tank as if asking if that was acceptable to him. I couldn't imagine why Bobby would need to check with Tank, but at this point I'd call and get a permission slip from the Secretary of Defense if I had to. Bobby must have gotten the ok, because I saw his shoulders relax and he agreed.

'Thanks. I really appreciate that you are being careful, but I was going a little nuts."

Bobby laughed and shrugged as if he understood but didn't really care that I was going crazy. He turned to hand Tank some more paperwork that he brought with him. Once that was done, he turned and let himself out of the apartment. I turned and looked at Tank sitting at the small dining table that was close to my position on the couch. " Will you please relax?"

"I am relaxed."

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. "No, relaxed is when you take off your shoes, remove your arsenal, and watch mind numbing TV on the couch in your undies. What you are doing is hovering over there pretending to do paperwork. So just stop it and come watch a movie or something."

I didn't expect him to actually do it, but he got up from the table and came over to sit on the opposite end of the couch. I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing, he might have moved his position, but he was certainly not relaxed.

"Ok Big guy… you are making me up tight, and I'm on a decent amount of narcotics.. So that's a feat let me tell you."

"It's my job to protect you. You left WiTSEC because we promised to keep you safe."

"I respect that, but I am in the most secure building outside of the pentagon. What I need right now is to relax, and unless you tone down the DEFCON level a little I'm not going to be able to relax as well as I'd like."

I couldn't help but giggle a little as he slouched a little one the couch and looked at me as if to say "There I'm relaxed"

"Boots." I said pointing to his feet. I just stared him down until he relented and bent over to unlace and kick off his boots. I took a slow deep breath, getting this man to relax was going to be like pulling gator teeth. "Now your side arm." Tank looked like he was going to object, but my face must have shown I was serious because he unsnapped his holster and laid his gun down on the coffee table with in reach.

I carefully slid along the couch to move closer to him. He just watched me for a minute, but didn't seem to be reacting. When I was close enough I leaned over and picked up his gun, popped the clip and racked the slide to clear the chamber before handing the gun and the clip over. "Please… go secure your weapon, and put on something not work clothes. Right now what I need is to feel like I am spending time with a friend and not a prison guard."

I couldn't help the spike of adrenaline that shot through my veins when Angie grabbed my gun, unfortunately I hate to admit it instead of reacting and taking it away from her, I just froze. My body immediately relaxed when she cleared it and handed it back to me. I took the weapon from her my mouth suddenly dry. I had no idea how to react to this woman. Most of the time she seemed so vulnerable, and so alone, but she had just shown me that she could handle more than I gave her credit for. I fought the urge to smirk as she gave me my marching orders. "What the hell… It can't hurt to humor her." I thought to myself as I stood up from the couch and headed into the bedroom to change. I settled on an old pair of sweatpants and a grey ARMY t-shirt.

I walked back out to the living room and sat down on the couch next to her. "Ok I'm changed.. now what?" I wasn't exactly relaxed, but if it made her feel better I'd play her game.

Angie grinned at me as I got comfortable on the couch. "Tank, remember I am asking you this as my friend and not as my body guard…"

I nodded slowly wondering what kind of trouble was coming.

"I need you to take me somewhere I can smoke… I'm pretty sure one or two of the guys have a spot off in the corner of the garage."

My first reaction was to tell her there was no way in hell, but I was to confused. How did she know where the guys smoked on break? Hell they weren't even supposed to smoke, but as long as it didn't keep them from doing their jobs no one fussed. "What makes you so sure there is a place to smoke? This is a smoke free work place."

"I could smell it in the garage. Trust me when you need a smoke, you can smell where the other smokers are. It's probably so you know where to go to bum a smoke, but it is the truth."

"I don't think that is a good idea."

I must have jumped about three feet in the air when Angie reached over and grabbed my hand. I wasn't used to something like that. Most women were afraid of me, and when they weren't it was mostly sex between us. Even with Lula, sure we were monogamous, and we went on dates, but it was still mostly sex.

"Please. This is me asking my friend to walk with me so I can go have a cigarette."

Well hell, when she put it that way, what could I do but agree. "Ok, but one cigarette and that is it"

I stood up off the couch and offered her my hand to help her stand up. Once she was on her feet I grabbed her little backpack purse thing for her. She lightly grabbed my arm to steady herself as we made our way to the elevator.

"Brown is going to have a shit fit over this you know." I told her.

She laughed a little even though I know it had to have hurt. "Maybe, but send him to me… I was only half kidding about my temperature experiment." She said with a smile as the elevator doors opened to let us out at the garage.

"Remind me not to get on your bad side."

She just shook her head with a smile as we walked across the garage to where Zero and Cal were standing in the corner smoking. Angie took her purse from me and dug out a pack and her lighter. She took up a 'protected" position between the guys that would allow me to block her from anyone else in the garage. I silently raised an eyebrow as she did this. I know she did it to make me feel better.

Cal and Zero looked at Angie and then back me with questions in their eyes. They knew better than to ask though. Cal lit Angie's Cigarette when her lighter wouldn't work. She gave him a appreciative smile and took a long drag closing her eyes.

"Oh God… I needed this. Thank you for bringing me down here Tank."

I just nodded at her. The guys didn't need to see me chatting away like a village gossip. Angie turned so her back was to me and took a step back in my direction so she could see the guys. I could tell she wanted to say something to them, so I thought I would take pity on her and introduce them.

"Angie, this is Zero and Cal. Guys this is Angie." God bless Angie, she never even batted an eye she just offered the guys her hand as she was introduced telling them she was glad to meet them. Even Steph was at least a little afraid of us when she first met us. Cal and Zero shook her hand, but didn't say much in return. Not that I could blame them. I'm sure it was slightly uncomfortable trying to smoke with one of their bosses standing right there. Angie didn't seem bothered by the uncomfortable silence. She just finished her smoke and put it out before dropping it into the coffee can that served as an ashtray out here.

"Bye guys!" Angie said to the two of them as she took my arm and we started our trip back to the elevator.

When we got back to the apartment she went to the kitchen and washed her hands. I helped her back to the couch and got her settled before I took my spot on the couch. She picked up the remote and turned on the TV. I had left it on ESPN and she made a face, but didn't comment as she started flipping through the channels. She finally stopped on the SyFy channel, they had some sort of disaster movie marathon on. I laughed to myself as we started watching Atomic Twister. It had to be the cheesiest disaster movie I had ever seen, and I'd seen some pretty bad ones. About half way through the movie Angie laid down using my leg as her pillow. I just let her, after all she needed the rest, before the movie was over, I could hear the deep even breathing that told me she had fallen asleep. I didn't want to wake her up, so I just settled back against the couch to watch a little TV.

I must have dozed off as well, because I woke up to Bobby standing in my living room grinning like an idiot. I gestured for hi to be quiet as I carefully lifted Angie so I could get off the couch. Once I had gotten to my feet I lifted Angie off the couch so I could carry her to bed. I took her in the bedroom and got her settled into bed. She was so tired she didn't even stir. I went back into the living room only to find that Lester had joined Bobby.

"You two looked pretty cozy when I came in." Bobby said still grinning.

"What did I miss?' asked Lester as he took a seat on the couch.

"You should have seen it Les. Tank was sleeping sitting there on the couch with Angie passed out in his lap."

Lester raised an eyebrow and looked at me as I headed towards the kitchen to get a bottle of water. "You sure it's a good idea to get involved Tank?"

I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and looked over the counter that separated the living room and kitchen at Lester. "I'm not getting involved Les. She just needed a friend. She's had it pretty rough lately."

Bobby didn't look convinced. "Isn't that pretty much the same thing Ranger said about Bombshell?"

"Shut up Bobby. This is a completely different situation." I told him.

"Yeah Bobby, this is sooooo different, Bomber was a little white girl in over her head in dealing with criminals and killers, and Angie is…" Lester trailed off looking at me pointedly.

I shrugged off the implication. This was a completely different situation…Wasn't it?