First Date

Stephanie looked up when she heard someone approaching her desk. She'd been hard at work for a few hours, running searches and reading over the results, for a couple of potential new hires for RangeMan. She gave a smile when she saw it was Ranger standing by her desk.

"Hey Ranger, what's up?" she asked. He tugged a loose curl behind her ear and smiled at her. "Babe, do you have any plans for the afternoon? I have an offsite meeting to check on some problems and I thought you'd like to go with me."

She glanced at the stack of files on her desk and sighed. "I'd love to get away for the afternoon, but this stack needs to get done today before I leave. Maybe some other time, okay?" Ranger looked sad for a brief moment before he said, "Sure Babe, I understand. I heard your boss is a real hard-ass." She chuckled and said, "Thanks for asking me though." He reached down again stroking her cheek gently and nodded, walking back into his office.

Sitting down in his desk, he called Tank and asked him to take the meeting in his place. He really wanted to spend the afternoon with Steph, and if she wouldn't go, then neither would he. Steph had been working for him fulltime for almost six months and in that time, he'd been gone about half of it for a mission and since he'd been back, she seemed to place some distance between the two of them, even though he had heard from Lester that it ended between Steph and the cop, almost as soon as he left town.

He flipped the monitor to the camera that was pointed at her desk. She was sitting there, staring blankly at the computer screen and rubbing her hand over the cheek he had just touched. He watched her let out a big sigh and then started back on her work. He tried to get his pile of paperwork done the rest of the day, but he was constantly checking the screen to see what Stephanie was doing.

He finally gave up for the day when he checked the screen and saw Steph had already left. He closed up his computer and shut the door to his office before taking the stairs to his apartment on the top floor of the building. Dropping his keys in the bowl by the door, he headed into the kitchen and grabbed the food Ella had left in the warming oven. He grabbed a bottle of beer and headed into the living room to eat. He turned the television on and flipped through the channels while eating. Giving up on the channels, he got up and pulled out a dvd that he had hidden in a book. He put the dvd in and sat back to watch. He watched about an hour before he realized Tank was sitting on the couch next to him.

"Any reason you're watching a loop of office videos?" asked Tank. Ranger glanced at him and said nothing. He just continued to watch. Tank went to the kitchen and came back with beer for both of them. He sat back down and still Ranger said nothing. "If you want to know, the meeting this afternoon was a bust. Something about the company is not quite right so I said we'd talk it over and get back to them. I think I'll have Steph run a check on them. She seems to find the quirky things in her search results." Still nothing from Ranger.

"Man, did you lose your voice today?" Ranger flipped him a hand gesture and finished the bottle of beer. Tank had been watching the video that was playing before he finally pieced together what he was seeing. The entire video was a conglomeration of clips that Stephanie was in. "Shit man, you've turned into another one of her stalkers." Ranger's head shot up and turned to look at Tank. "What did you say?" he asked. Tank sat and shook his head at his best friend.

" . . . Man, you have it bad. Why don't you just ask her out? The cop's been gone for months and there's been no one else." Ranger shook his head and said, "I tried today and she turned me down." "Well, obviously you did it wrong. For some strange reason, that girl is nuts about you. What did you say?" "I asked if she wanted to get out of the office this afternoon and go to the meeting with me. I thought we could spend the afternoon together and then we'd stop and eat somewhere on the way back to the building." Tank shook his head and sighed, "You asked her to go to a meeting with you? God, do you need to get Lester to give you some dating advice? Well, obviously she turned you down since I had to go instead. What did she say?"

Ranger sighed, "She said that she had a stack of searches to get done today and thanked me for asking, but she should stay and work." Tank looked at him and laughed. "Well, you shithead, you gave her the work that had to get done today. They were the new batch of applicants for the new positions, here and in Miami. Remember you want to get the interviews done here as quickly as possible and then head to Miami to do the same thing?" Tank shook his head and said, "You are really hopeless, you know that?" He put his beer bottle down on the coffee table and walked towards the door. "Figure out how to ask like a man and not a boss and I'm sure she'll agree. Find something she loves and take her to it." He walked out the door, muttering to himself.

Ranger sat and thought about what Tank had said. He headed back down to his office and reviewed the video from his visit to Steph's desk. He sat at his desk and shook his head at himself on the screen. God, he was an idiot. What was he thinking? Asking her to attend a meeting with him. Did he really think that would be a date? What did Tank say? Find something she likes and take her? He sat and thought for a while and then snapped his fingers in delight. He had the perfect idea and it would only take a few phone calls to make it happen.

It ended up taking the rest of the week to get everything coordinated and when he got the final confirmation email on Wednesday morning, he sent Steph an instant message and asked her to come into his office when she had a minute. He watched her on the monitor and she pushed away from her desk and stood up. He quickly switched displays on the monitor and responded to her knock with, "Come in Babe." She laughed as she walked in, "How did you know it was me?" He smiled and gestured for her to sit down. "Your knock is much softer than the guys and you're about the only one here that actually knocks, most of them just come in."

She sat down and looked at him, causing him to stare at her. They stared at each other for a minute before she said, "Did you ask me in here for a reason or just to stare at me?" That seemed to snap him out of his daze and he said, "I wanted to see if you were free this weekend. I am going to run down to North Carolina and wondered if you want to go with me." Now it was her turn to stare. "You want me to spend the weekend with you in North Carolina?" He nodded, "Yes, I'm going to meet up with some friends from my active duty days. Most of the guys are married now or have girlfriends, so they are all bringing them with and they suggested that I bring a guest. The company has a safe house on the beach and I decided to host a reunion of sorts. I want you to be my guest."

She looked at him skeptically and said, "You want me, disaster prone me, to go away for the weekend with you and meet your friends?" He nodded, "Yes, that's what I said, isn't it?" She shook her head and said, "Are you sure?" He looked at her and said, "Babe, I wouldn't ask if I wasn't sure." They sat for a minute in quiet and finally he said, "Well?" She laughed and said, "I'm crazy for doing this, but YES, I'll go with you and meet your friends. But I'm warning you, I'm not responsible if anything crazy happens. When do we leave?" He stood up and pulled her up and hugged her, kissing the spot under her ear that he knew she loved. She sighed when he did that and pulled back to look at him. "We need to leave in the morning. It's about an 8 hour drive from here. Most of the guys will be arriving on Friday morning and I'd like to be there the day before to get the house opened up and all of the food and drinks bought before the guys get there. We'll stay through Sunday and drive home on Monday. I'm sure your boss will let you have Thursday and Monday off of work." She stared at him, "You expect me to pack for a weekend away with you and meet your friends and not have time to shop for it?" He shook his head and pulled his wallet out of his pocket. He handed her a credit card and said, "Take the afternoon off and go crazy at the mall." He kissed the top of her head and gently pushed her out the door. "I'll pick you up tomorrow morning at 7:00. That's AM Babe, as in 7:00 in the morning." He laughed at her and then went back into his office and shut the door. Sitting down in his chair, he smiled. Part One was complete and now to call in one last favor.