A/N: Thanks to my awesome beta, Phillygirl27! She's amazing!

Chapter 9

The next morning Stephanie awoke at 5:00 am deliciously sore. Although she was tired, she knew it was time to get up and meet her coaches at the pool. Carlos was still asleep next to her, so she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before getting out of bed and heading to his shower.

Standing under the steaming spray, Stephanie began thinking about the changes that had taken place in her life over the last few months. She never thought she would be in a relationship with such a wonderful and caring man. Carlos was the only good thing that had come from having a psycho stalker.

Stephanie turned as she heard the shower door open and Carlos stepped inside. "Good morning, Babe," he said drawing her in close. "It's a good morning now," she replied cheekily.

After kissing her senseless, Carlos said, "I would love to take this further, but I know you've got to keep to your training schedule. Stephanie pouted but agreed. "Believe me, I'll be thinking of nothing but you today," she smiled. "Ditto, Babe."

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Twenty minutes later, Ranger called Tank into his office. "Report," he commanded.

"We've been checking into the background of Coach Johnson and found some interesting information that leads us to believe that he was not acting alone. Apparently he had some rather large gambling debts," Tank said. "I'm thinking that somebody was going to pay him a large sum to get rid of Stephanie. The question is who and why. Ranger, she's still very much in danger."

"Dig further, I want to know everyone Johnson met with for the last six months. We have three weeks until we leave for the games and I want this threat neutralized. Stephanie has enough on her mind without worrying about this too."

"Speaking of Stephanie," Tank ventured. "I noticed on the overnight report that she left your apartment early this morning. Care to expand on that information?" he smirked.

Ranger gave him a look. "All I can say is Stephanie is important to me and you know we take care of our own. Get me the intel I need ASAP. Dismissed."

Tank left Ranger's office smiling. He was glad his friend had found someone. He worked too damn hard and hopefully Stephanie would teach him how to relax a little.

Several floors below Ranger's office, Stephanie was working hard on her freestyle drills, but her head wasn't in the game. Both Hal and Cal noticed and called her out.

"What's up with you today, Steph?" Cal asked. "Your times are worse today than yesterday. You're supposed to be improving, not moving backward."

Stephanie hung onto the edge of the pool and sighed. "I'm just really tired today. I didn't get much sleep last night."

"It didn't have anything to do your date last night, did it?" Hal joked. Stephanie splashed water at him and replied, "Maybe."

"You know what they say about athletes and sex," Cal commented.

"That it's great because we have such awesome stamina?" Stephanie laughed.

"Very funny," Hal said. "Let's get back to work."

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A few nights later, Stephanie and Carlos were relaxing in his apartment watching CNN when a breaking news alert came on.

'Breaking News: The World Anti-Doping Association (WADA) has found the Russian government guilty of long term doping of their athletes to give them an unfair advantage at the Olympic Games. It is the recommendation of WADA that all Russian athletes should be banned from the Rio games. In all likelihood the International Olympic Committee will allow some of the athletes to participate with only the most blatant violators being banned.'

Stephanie was watching and chewing on her bottom lip. Carlos could almost see the wheels turning in her head. "What are you thinking, Babe?"

Stephanie stood and started to pace. "I'm sure the Russians knew weeks ago that there was an ongoing investigation and that the results of the tests would not be good. What if they foresaw some of their premier athletes being pulled as a real possibility? What if they realized where their athletes were most vulnerable and targeted the competition?"

"If that's the case," Carlos replied, "we need to investigate whether other top athletes have been attacked or threatened in any way."

"If there are others, it would make sense. Russia is trying to eliminate the elite competitors in order to give their second string athletes a shot at the medals," Stephanie finished.

Carlos wrapped her in an embrace and kissed the top of her head. "Proud of you, Babe."

Stephanie looked up at Carlos and smiled. "Thanks, but what do we do next?"

"I need to speak with Rodriquez, he's my best researcher. If he can't find a connection nobody can. At a minimum it gives us a better idea of what we need to look at security wise for Rio."

"I can reach out to some of my athlete friends that are in other events and see what they've heard," Stephanie offered. "I think I'll concentrate on track and weightlifting because that's where they are most likely to benefit from doping."

"I'll set you up in one of the empty offices tomorrow so you can make your calls. "

"Sounds like we've got some work ahead of us. How about we call it a night?" Stephanie asked.

"You read my mind, Babe."

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Following her morning training session, Stephanie began making calls. Three hours later, she met with Carlos in his office to review her findings.

"I spoke with several of my athlete friends and found there have been incidents similar to what happened to me," Stephanie began. "I've come up with half a dozen names for Rodriquez to follow up on."

"I'll get him on it as soon as he comes in," Carlos replied. "What else did you find?"

"I also checked to see who was planning to stay in the Olympic Village. A lot of people are spooked by the attacks on athletes and don't feel like they will be protected. It makes me wonder if I should stay there."

"I won't let anything happen to you, Babe," Carlos reassured her. "I have a buddy from the Rangers that has a house just outside Rio. I've contacted him about using it as a home base during the games. He's agreed to help us out."

"That's great!" Stephanie exclaimed. "That's one less thing I need to worry about."

Carlos gathered Stephanie in close so that their bodies touched from their foreheads to their toes. "I think we make a great team, Babe." Stephanie murmured her agreement as his hands started to wander.

Stephanie groaned, "Lester's going to be here in 10 minutes for my strength training. Don't get me worked up, I won't be able to think about anything but you."

"Is that such a bad thing?" Carlos asked as he started nibbling at her neck.

"It is when it keeps me from concentrating. I didn't want to say anything, but I've got to refocus."

"Babe, the last thing I want is for our lovemaking to be a distraction for you and your goals."

"I love the time we spend together," she explained, "but we may have to curtail how late we stay up."

Carlos gave her a wolf grin. "All work and no play will make Stephanie frustrated."

"Not as frustrated as she'll be if she doesn't win her medals." Stephanie smiled.

"Touche, Babe, touche."