Disclaimer: I still only lay claim to Ray, the rest belong to JE. I am making no money.

A/N: As always Wanda, this chapter would be nothing with out your valuable insight. My apologies for taking so long to get this chapter out.

I woke late on Sunday morning, well late for me anyway, most people wouldn't consider 8 am to be late, but I did. The first thing I noticed, was that I felt like crap. I hadn't had all that much to drink the night before, just a couple glasses of wine with Tank, but oddly enough I had headache, and my stomach was making itself known with that slightly queasy feeling you get when you drink too much on an empty stomach. As much as I wanted to stay in bed, I forced myself to get up and get in the shower. Today was the day I wanted to try to catch Steph in the office and have our little talk. I turned on the water and let it heat up while I brushed my teeth. The problem with confronting Steph, was that I couldn't pussy foot around the issue, but I didn't want to hurt her feelings either. I wished my dad could be here, he would know exactly what to say. I sighed softly before stripping down and climbing in the shower.

By the time I got out of the shower, I knew how I had to handle things, I just hoped that it didn't back fire on me. I got dressed for the day in a pair of old jeans and a t-shirt that Steph had picked out for me. I headed upstairs so I could get some work done. I had a few things to take care of before the work week started. I found my cubicle, and sat down booting up the system. I pulled up the web browser and started my search for moving companies. It took me a while to find one that would pack, load and move my things. Of course they weren't open on Sunday, so I had to fill out one of those stupid little Contact Us forms. I just hoped they would call me back. I moved on to looking for Real Estate agents in my area, shortly after I discovered that there are probably more Realtors in South Florida than bugs, I decided to quit while I was ahead, and saddle my sister with the job of finding someone to sell the house. I pushed away from my desk, I was starting to get a headache from staring at the screen for too long. I knew I should have grabbed my reading glasses, instead of going back downstairs for them, I headed to the break room to grab a cup of coffee.

I stopped a few times on my way to the break room to chat with a few of the guys I had met the other day when I first got here. As much as I didn't want to like this place, it was beginning to grow on me. I finally made my way to the break room and poured myself a cup of coffee. It wasn't Ella's special brew, but it was drinkable. Just as I was heading back to my cubicle, Steph made her way across the floor. I stopped in the monitor room and chatted with the guys on monitor duty long enough to let Steph get settled in. I said my goodbyes and walked towards Steph's cube. I knocked lightly before poking my head in.

"Hey Steph, if you've got a minute I want to talk to you in the conference room."

She looked a little surprised, but instead of commenting she just nodded. I gave her a small smile and sipped my coffee before heading to the conference room to wait for her. I didn't have to wait long though, Steph was right behind me. As soon as she entered the room, I closed the door. This talk was going to be hard enough with out having the entire floor privy to our discussion. I turned to look at Steph as she was sitting down at the table.

"So the guys spent some time the other night filling me in about the exploits of the Bombshell Bounty Hunter."

"It wasn't my fault!" She practically whined.

"I've learned a lot of things in my life, but when to keep my mouth shut has never been one of them, so now I am going to talk and you are going to listen." I moved to sit down across the conference table from her. I wanted to be able to see her expressions to know if I was getting my point across.

"Steph, I know you really believe that a lot of the things that have happened to you were not your fault, and you might be right on some of them, but some of them were absolutely your fault."

Steph looked like I had reached across the table and slapped her. "I didn't ask for any of those things to happen, they just did."

I looked over at her, I was speechless. I didn't even want to dignify that with a response, but I finally found the words. "So, what you are saying is that you had nothing to do with stunning a member of the Rangeman staff with his own stun gun, leaving the premises after being told it was dangerous, getting kidnapped by a violent street gang that you knew had a contract out on you, and therefore needed to be rescued by an assault weapon bearing school bus driver. If none of that was your fault... do you suffer from a dissociative disorder then? Perhaps You have what they used to call Multiple Personality Disorder, although that would be a neat trick because as far as I know, even though I know it is considered an illness in the DSMIV, there has never been a proven case."

It was only through years of practice that I was able to keep my voice from displaying the irritation I felt at that moment. I had met victims during my time on the police force, but never had I met someone who was as deeply in denial as Stephanie. I watched the emotions fly across her face as what I said started to sink in.

"It was my sister's Wedding Shower! I had to go!"

I sat silently waiting for her to elaborate. Most people can't stand to have a long silence, it is almost as if they have a compulsion to say something to break the silence. I didn't have to wait long for Stephanie to start talking again.

"I was the maid of honor! It was really important that I be there." She told me after a minute or two of quiet.

"More important than your safety?"

"I wanted to go, and Ranger never should have put me on lock down like I was some sort of child!"

I took a slow deep breath in through my nose to calm myself. It hadn't escaped my notice that she ignored my comment about her safety.

"You wanted to go? Did you ever stop to consider how many things the guys missed because they had to go chasing after you when you went running off half cocked?"

Steph had one of those faces that were just appallingly easy to read. As soon as I asked the question she was shocked, and then she was apologetic for just a few seconds before that gave way to anger.

"I never asked them to come after me! You can't blame me if they had somewhere else they wanted to be."

I stood up so fast that my chair fell over backwards and slid several inches along the floor before coming to a stop. I was lucky that Steph didn't have enough training to recognize my reaction as the carefully constructed action that it was. I slapped my hands down on the table, making her jump. It would have been funny, if this entire discussion hadn't been so serious. I had no intention of harming her, but she didn't know that. I had done what I set out to do. I had made sure I now had Stephanie's complete and undivided attention. I kept my palms flat on the table and leaned forward invading her space just enough to make her uncomfortable.

"Grow up Stephanie! Take some responsibility for your actions! You know damn well that Ranger drops everything any time you are in trouble. Christ. You fucking rely on that, you know that no matter what he's going to come to your rescue. So yeah, actually I can blame you for taking them away from their plans. You are just god damned lucky no one has been seriously injured while pulling your ass out of the fire. Ricky might walk over hot coals for you now, but if you get one of his men killed because of your irresponsibility… Well let's just say he probably will not be so accommodating should that happen." I locked my eyes with hers, I judged that it was time to switch to good cop.

"Now I understand what dad meant when he said he had two extra invisible children called 'wasn't me' and 'I don't know'." I muttered just loud enough for her to hear. I pushed myself back to a standing position. I crossed my arms across my chest for a minute while I looked at her, trying to decide on my next step. I decided complete honesty from here on out would be my best bet. Steph looked to be on the verge of tears at this point.

"Look Steph." I said in a much softer tone. "I'm sure right now you think that it's none of my damn business what you do." I didn't have to wait for her to reply, the look she shot me told me I was dead on.

"I'm going to give it to you straight." I walked over and perched on the table next to her.

"Everyone of these men in this building, even the one's I have not yet met, are my brothers in a way you will never be able to understand. All joking about which branch of the service is the best, aside; When push comes to shove we are all brothers in arms, and we know that we will always have each others backs." I stopped talking for a minute. I knew what I wanted to say, but I needed a moment to figure out how to say it.

"In the spirit of full disclosure here, I'm going to let you in on a secret. I am head over heels, completely and irrevocably in love with Bobby Brown, and have been for about 20 years give or take a few. In that time, Bobby has been in war zones, and on black op's in places that you can't imagine, and I never worried about him as much as I do when I know he is hitting the streets with you."

I had to look away, I couldn't look at Steph, because I didn't want to see on her face, what she was thinking right now. I didn't want to see how much I was hurting her. I had questioned her sanity, her maturity and her ability to keep my loved one safe. I was being harsh, but honest. Sometimes you had to break down before you could build up.

"I don't think you know what it really means to have someone's back. It's more than just having the training and ability to shoot a gun, or to fight hand to hand. Having someone's back means you are willing to move mountains or walk through the fires of hell to keep from putting that person in any unnecessary danger. Danger in our line of work is unavoidable, but if you have a plan you can mitigate it. Steph, when it comes to the day to day situations you find yourself in, you don't have anyone's back out there. You just go running head first into it hoping that whichever Rangeman might be watching out for you can handle it. That's not how it works. You need to work with people, not at a cross purpose to them. It took me a long time to learn that you know?" I managed a little smile at the memory.

"I had one hell of an SOB for a Drill Instructor in basic, and as much as I hated her back then, it didn't take me long to realize that bitch was the first in the Corps to really have my back. Let me tell you, there were a few times I didn't think I was going to make it through recruit training, but as much as it feels like your DI is out to make you quit, they're really pushing you through. You keep going, because in the back of your head, you think I'm not going to give them the satisfaction of quitting, and you focus on making it through day by day. Don't worry about tomorrow will bring, just survive today."

I finally looked at Steph again. "Let me have your back Steph, I want to show you how to keep yourself alive, because one day you might need to depend on yourself, not someone else."

I could see that she was about to turn me down, and I knew that if she told me to fuck off now, I was never going to get another shot at this. I patted her lightly on the shoulder as I stood up. "Just think about it for a few days. If you can come up with a good reason why it's a bad idea, I will never bring it up again. You have my word."

I walked out the door letting Steph think over everything I had said. I hoped she didn't dismiss everything I said out of hand, but I was willing to take that risk in the hopes that she would take what I was offering.

I was just about to push open the door to the stairwell when I heard footsteps behind me. I turned to see who was there, and I saw Steph trying to catch me before I left. I kept silent, waiting for her to get up the courage to say something. I hated that she looked at me like I scared or intimidated her.

"So um... You're not going to make me run and eat only healthy stuff are you?" She asked finally.

I fought the urge to laugh, I didn't want her to think I was laughing at her. "No, no running and health food, until you're ready."

"I don't think I'll ever be ready for that." She said with a small laugh.

"No problem. If you don't have anything else to do today, I could use your help. I need to get groceries, and I don't know how to get to the store."

Steph nodded and agreed to help me out. She was going to grab her purse and meet me down stairs in my apartment. As soon as she turned to walk away, I hit the stairs at a jog. I needed to get downstairs and get ready for lesson one of Operation Stronger Stephanie.