Standard FF disclaimers apply. Thanks to JE for the world she created for us to play in.

All recognizable characters are hers not mine. All mistakes are mine too.

. . .

WHAT DID YOU DO?

Chapter 1

Shadows played with the subdued lights as Stephanie paced the hallway outside of Ranger's office. Only the wall sconces and exit signs were turned on this late at night, and between that green glow and the dark stretches between the lights, it was giving her the creeps.

The two week assignment seemed to have dragged on forever, Stephanie's need to see Ranger had agonizingly grown during every minute that he had been away. For hours now, she had waited for Ranger and the team to get back. She had to talk to him, had to explain. It's all she had been able to think about for days.

One problem after another, however, delayed their return. And with every passing second Stephanie was getting more and more worried. She had been at the far end of the hall when they had finally arrived. Hidden enough in the shadows, she was not sure if Ranger had even seen her. But the quick glance she got of him told her that he was tired, distracted, and maybe a bit anxious. It made her heart sick.

This was all her fault, and she still didn't know if Ranger was upset with her or not. He had not said anything, not one word. Stepping out of the dark again, she hesitated only slightly before she headed back toward his office. A headache was coming on, and she keenly felt every jolt as her hurried steps led her back down the hall.

With the door closed, she could only hear the murmur of voices inside, but somehow they sounded so serious. Stephanie lingered only a moment, it felt wrong to be listening, even if she couldn't understand what was being said. Unable to calm her nerves, she kept up her pacing.

Reaching the end of the hall again, Stephanie stopped and stared blankly at the wall ahead of her for a few long moments before turning back around. Too many unsettling thoughts had been crowding her mind for weeks now, but the one that demanded most of her attention tonight came with a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. It had never been her intention to hurt anyone, Ranger would understand that. So why couldn't she dispel the cloud of guilt that was pressing in on her and making it so hard to breathe.

Clenching her hands into tight fists, Stephanie tried to stop the flood of thoughts that had been continually tormenting her the entire time that Ranger had been gone. Up until the night he left, it had all been going so well, and that's what hurt the most. After cutting Joe loose a few months ago, her life had completely turned around. Stephanie had worked so hard to change all of the things that she felt had not been working for her. More than that, she had grabbed her life with both hands and had taken the chance to go after what she really wanted. In a word, Ranger.

She was spending more time working at RangeMan than she did with Vinnie now. She easily considered this to be the biggest improvement in her life, because it was part of her plan to get closer to Ranger. And it had been working, at least when he was in town. His contracts still took him away sometimes, Stephanie knew that there was nothing she could do to control that. But even then, she had been so much happier than ever before. Everything had been turning out to be so great. Why did she have to find out about his friend?

The timing had been off, she will be the first to admit that, but what choice had she had? How could she keep something like this from him? The way Ranger had been talking about Chef, it was obvious that he cared about him, and she knew that he would want to know if his friend was in trouble.

That they had left, on another one of their top secret missions shortly after she dropped the bomb, so to speak, had not been her fault. How could she have known that they would be called out on such short notice? That she would not be able to talk this whole thing through with him because they'd have to leave immediately? Stephanie had agonized over the fact that she had not been able to speak with Ranger since then. Two long weeks had gone by without her knowing how he had taken the news that she'd shared with him.

Now they were back, but, unfortunately they had not come alone. The General was here too. There had been non stop meetings and debriefings. Even though the mission was over, something was going on. More than ever, Stephanie needed to talk to Ranger, but she had not had the chance to have even one single minute alone with him. In fact, she had barely even seen more than a glimpse of him since they got home.

Back in front of Ranger's office, she paused outside the door. It was quiet, way too quiet. What were they talking about in there? While she was sure it was important, it always was when the general was here, Stephanie felt that she would go crazy if she had to wait too much longer.

More than once she had marched right up to the door, even had her hand raised, poised to knock. It's just that all her worrying about how much worse things could get stopped her, and she could not bring herself to interrupt. No doubt much of her hesitation was because of the uncertainty of what kind of reception she would get if she did.

But she had to know. Once more she determined to go ahead and do it. She stepped forward and just as she lifted her hand to knock, she heard someone call out her name. Surprised, Stephanie spun around to see Ella hurrying down the hall. In the time it took to reach her, Stephanie hardly had the chance to wonder what what was going on and why Ella was out this late. Without any explanation, Ella grabbed her raised arm and started pulling her along as she continued to move down the hallway.

"Ella?" Stephanie tried to ask what was going on, but Ella just kept up her brisk pace until they reached the elevators. It was not until they had stepped inside and the doors had closed that Ella finally said something.

"Stephanie, I am so sorry to pull you away like that, but I have to talk to you before you see Ranger"

The doors opened on the sixth floor and Ella led the the way to her apartment. She ushered Stephanie into the kitchen where she proceeded to put slices of decadent looking chocolate cake on plates that she then set on the table. "Milk or coffee?" she asked, as she pulled forks from a drawer and placed them on the plates.

"Ella!" Stephanie exclaimed, a little bit annoyed at the obvious delay tactics. "What's going on?"

Ella just looked at her, waiting. In exasperation Stephanie finally answered. "Milk." She was already way too wired to add caffeine to the equation.

Once the glasses were poured and set next to the plates, Ella lowered herself into her chair and looked over at Stephanie. She took a deep breath and reached out to take Stephanie's hand in her own. By now, Stephanie's impatience had turned to concern. What was wrong?

"Oh, Stephanie," Ella said said softly. "I hated to drag you away like that, but I wanted you to know what's happening before you talk to Ranger."

Ella shook her head after seeing the look on Stephanie's face, knowing that this little talk was not going as well as she had hoped. She tried to smile, patting Stephanie's hand once more before sitting back and folding her arms across her chest.

"The thing is, General Kinkaid is here because some of the core team will be leaving again," Ella said. "Soon," she added, anticipating the next question Stephanie might ask.

"What..." Stephanie started to say, but she was cut off when Louis walked into the kitchen. Without a word, he picked up a box from the counter and paused when he turned to go. He exchanged a curious look with Ella, then Louis walked away, leaving the apartment again. Ella took another lung filling breath and leaned forward, bracing her folded arms on the table.

"You started the ball rolling a couple of weeks ago with that information you dug up," Ella said. Stephanie winced, but did not have a chance to say anything, as Ella kept talking. "They couldn't do anything about it then, but now something else has happened that is going to take them away."

"Please tell me what's wrong," Stephanie said, her voice soft and pleading. Ella nodded, absently noticing that their cake had gone untouched. This was not the atmosphere that she had been trying so hard to create, to help her soften the news that she had to share. But there was no way around it now, she was just going to have to spill it.

"Ben Davron was killed," she said. Stephanie pulled back, her eyes wide, mouth gaping open with a million unspoken questions. This was truly the last thing that she had expected to hear. Now she understood, she knew just how much worse it could be. The friend she had felt compelled to warn Ranger about was now gone.

As Ella had feared, Stephanie looked shocked and more than a little bit upset by the news. Understandable under the circumstances, of course. There was not much she could say now, to explain what had happened. She didn't even know that many of the details, so Ella said the only thing that mattered.

"The general needs the original team to help him figure out what he was up to and who killed him."

Stephanie slowly nodded. It was out of her control now, and yet, she still couldn't shake that feeling, deep in her gut, reminding her that this was all her fault. And now the guy was dead. What had she done?

. .oOo.