Disclaimer: I am not making any money from this, I promise.

My grateful thanks to JE for her wonderful characters, which I hope I haven't damaged too much.

My thanks to you for all your kind words, I hope you enjoy what I have written. Please see the end for the usual dedications and daftness you have come to expect from me.

Thank you for your time.

Valzie.

Dangerous Ground Part 10.

Tank's POV

This has been day of horrors and wonders. To be honest I don't know which has been worse. Vlad and his men are gone to heaven knows where. There's a part of me that feels I shouldn't care, but they are soldiers, or were once, so I feel a certain unwelcome kinship with them. The General is an unfeeling old bastard, so there will be little mercy for them now. I try to keep in mind that they would have killed us all. It helps, a little.

We lived through this, all of us and that is something to give thanks for. I can see a party in our future and I will raise a toast to the fates that kept us all from harm. Eddie and Vince are back on their feet but they still look a little pale and a bit unsteady. Ranger isn't much better and Steph is supporting him, which makes for an interesting change I may say.

Now we wait for the other shoe to drop. I find myself watching her; she's clutching that phone like it's a lifeline. We make eye contact and she heads in my direction.

"There is someone outside that needs to be here." she tells me. "I would like you to send someone to escort him in."

"He will be searched and no weapons will be allowed within our walls." I tell her curtly. "You have caused us enough trouble today already."

"You have no reason to trust me, but I won't trouble you further, there is another with whom I need to speak." Her tone is formal and clipped and a world away from the woman who gasped my name with such abandon a short time ago.

My eyebrow raises "Who?" I ask.

"Detective Morelli."

I turn to Cal "Ask him to join us in the conference room."

Cal nods and I can see the disappointment in his eyes that he has to go just when the conversation's getting interesting. I gesture to Ram and he steps smartly forward. "Go with the lady and escort her guest on to the premises. Search them for weapons and show them both to the conference room."

"Understood."

Mel's POV

I'm nervous, more than I think I've ever been. This is make or break. My happily ever after starts here or my life is forfeit. Those are the stakes.

Ram is quiet, no banter as there would have been only twenty-four hours ago. Now his silence is accusatory and I can't blame him. Then my attention is torn from my mute guard by the sight of the one who is dearest to me. He for whom I have done this and will do so much more, for he deserves justice and I require vengeance.

Ranger's POV

This is something that I haven't experienced since I was a little boy. I secretly like being looked after by someone who loves me, but I'll never admit it. She is fussing over me like a mother hen and although I'm all gruff with her, I love it. She's seen me to a seat and is next to me, clutching my hand and asking me every few minutes if I am OK or if I need anything. How can she not know I have everything I need right here?

Morelli comes in and takes the seat on her other side, unconsciously perhaps. But I much would have preferred that one of my men was there to guard her. Adam must have read my mind as he and Sin take up positions behind us.

Joe's POV

She wants to talk to me, about what exactly? I watch as a man in a powered wheelchair enters with her. He is well dressed and was handsome once, but pain and loss has etched itself into his gaunt features robbing them of their youth and vitality.

She allows him to take his place at the table, moving her chosen seat back so that she sits level with him. With a last smile to him she faces us and starts to speak. "This was not in our plan. Please believe that. We are sorry for the damage to personnel and property that this day has wrought." She sighed "This wasn't the way it was supposed to go down Ranger, please forgive us." she turned her eyes to me.

"Detective Morelli today has been all about getting to you. Not to do you harm, but to ask for your help."

"My help?" I asked perplexed. I'm on the run from some very bad people, how could I be of help to her?

"My father is Jason Hartsfield, the man whose operation you infiltrated. My real name is Amelia and this is my husband Dominic." She held up a folder "I will give you everything you need to put my father's associates away for life."

My heart sank "But you want clemency for your father?" I guessed.

Her mouth twisted in a sneer "No, I want you to promise to seek the death penalty." She slammed her hand down onto the desk." I want him dead for what he's done." Dominic alongside her jumped his breathing stuttered and she turned and soothed him, her hand sliding into his, her other caressing his cheek as she whispered to him.

Steph's POV

When she uttered the word husband, I looked to Tank and found him staring unseeing at the opposite wall. He liked her, more than that and now he finds out that she played him. He doesn't give of himself lightly; he thought her worthy. He must have felt my gaze on him and he moved his head a little so that his eyes meet mine and he nods in silent acknowledgement of my sympathy.

I hear Ranger offer Bobby's services to Dominic and her polite refusals and tear my attention away from Tank's private pain and promise myself that I will help him through this.

Joe's POV

He is calm and settled, but she doesn't give up her grip on his hand as she continues her story.

"My father is a monster; I've known that since he strangled my mother in front of me and made me watch as he buried her body in the foundations of our new home. In his world, women are merely ornaments, possessions and we should see and hear nothing. He truly believes that only men can wield power. I'm a disappointment to him; I married for love to spite him when he had chosen someone for me that would have brought him more money and influence. The fact that I defied him to run my own totally legitimate business infuriates him." She ran her free hand over the edge of the table marshalling her thoughts before she continued. "I thought that when I moved out of his house into my marital home, the stranglehold he had on me would loosen, but I was wrong and someone else paid the price for my naivety. She looked to her husband and back to me. "He had us under constant surveillance and when it was reported back to him that Dom was having secret meetings with another woman." Her mouth twisted in distaste. "He decided to deal with him for me." She sat back and blew a stream of breath towards the ceiling "She was a party planner hired for my surprise 30th and she ended up dead as a hit and run, but he had something special planned for Dom."

It was then that he took up the story "I was a message and a warning." His voice was dark with pain and anger "He used my car to run that innocent woman down and then calmly parked it back in my parking bay and waited for me to finish work. That was his insurance policy, he framed me for her murder, so if I refused to play ball, he would hand me over to the police." He had to stop for a few moments, as the effort of retelling this tale was taking its toll on him physically as well as emotionally.

More whispered conversation and Mel took up the story once more. "There is no polite way to describe what that animal did to him; but you need to know the truth. You need to understand why."

With a death grip on his hand she continued "He and his second in command, someone I had always called Uncle grabbed Dom on his way back to his car. They threatened him and when he protested that he was innocent, they accused him of lying." Her eyes closed and she swallowed hard "They castrated him; so that he could never be unfaithful to me again and then because he still wouldn't admit that he was lying to them they threw him off the top floor of the parking garage." Her free hand was clenched so tight I could see blood seeping out from where her nails had pierced her skin. "They laughed at his pain and humiliation and stood over him as he lay dying in the dirt like a dog. If someone hadn't seen him fall and called 911, I would have lost him." She stood as if stillness was suddenly anathema to her and started to pace. "I have all the evidence you will need to convict my father of countless crimes, people smuggling, drug running, extortion, prostitution, the attempted murder of Dom and the murder of my mother. I will give you my sworn statement as to his involvement in it all. I even have forensic evidence for you. But all this costs, for what I give you I want him dead; I want the state to take my father's life. I could, but that would cost me what little of mine that he left me when he did this to us." She stopped at her husband's side and stroked his cheek "I won't let him take any more from us than he already has."

Ranger's POV

"And why send Vlad after Stephanie?" I broke in. "Why have him threaten her and us?"

"We didn't. The strike on your home wasn't our doing; Vlad had his own agenda that he didn't choose to share with us." Dominic replied. "Once we found out that Detective Morelli was in your custody we knew that we couldn't get access to him until he got here. When you called requesting Mel's help, it was the perfect way to get a toehold into your operation without revealing our true motives." There was bitterness in his tone. "All Vlad was meant to do was to threaten, so that you would accept Mel's help and we could get access to Detective Morelli and filter this information to him slowly and we would finally be able to rid ourselves of the devil that had plagued us without the whole world knowing that we were the ones that gave him up."

"And I was just a bonus." Tank stated flatly, his tone without rancour but his eyes were dull with pain.

"I'm sorry, you weren't meant to find out like this." Mel told him.

"How was it meant to go for us?" his arms folded over his massive chest as the edge of his pain peeped through before the door slammed down on it again.

She sighed audibly. "I guess it's time to lay all my cards on the table. I owe you the whole truth." She studied the hand that was bleeding, her nails marks visible in her palm. "I want the one thing that Dom can no longer give me, a child. We talked it over and decided that we wanted you to be the biological father. I was to seduce you into an affair and hope that would give me what I wanted most."

"And you would have dumped me the moment you were pregnant? Waltzed off into the sunset to play happy families with my child?"

I heard her chair go back and she made her way around the table until she was next to Tank. "He won't tell you this, because he is a man of honour, but believe me, I have no such problem. You're your father's daughter. What you can't come by honestly you take. You had no right to hurt this man, whose only mistake was to let you in to his life. I'm willing to bet he isn't the first to have fallen for your pretty lies." Her small hand rubbed Tank's huge bicep in a gesture of comfort. "You don't deserve the sweat of this man's brow, never mind his child. Until now I understood why you did what you felt you had to do, but this I can't forgive." His huge hand covered her small one and he looked up at her and his pride in her was evident as was his affection.

She turned those angry blue eyes on me. "I think it's time we started putting our house back in order." She glared at Mel "You will pay for all the damage to our property." That was no request and it was enough to knock the breath from me, hearing her state her intention to remain and to still belong with us and with me.

"Agreed, it's the least we can do." Mel kept her eyes lowered.

"Joe, looks like you three have lots to discuss. We'll get out of your hair so you can get started. I'll see that refreshments are brought to you. Let us know if you need anything."

If I thought I adored her before this, then I was wrong. My heart is so full of love for her that I could burst. She's take on the devil himself to protect us. This woman is our heart, we breathe out when she breathes in.

Joe's POV

"Thanks, Stephanie." not Cupcake, she'll never be my Cupcake again. I'm forced to concede that she's not mine anymore, maybe she never really was, but she's home now. This is where she belongs. Doesn't mean I have to like it.

She's different here, herself but better, more confident and somehow complete. I think this is who she always should have been and I hate that he is the one that has helped her find her true self. What she has chosen as her profession is a dangerous one, but she's safe here and knowing a bit more about the guys of Rangeman I know that she will always be protected.

She addressed the room "Gentlemen, we have work to do"

There was a chorus of "Yes Ma'am" and they all filed out and Ranger paused at the door. "If you ever want to retire from the force, there's a place at Rangeman for you"

"Thank you" I said and meant it. "I'd like that very much"

He turned back and flashed me a grin "Just not here in Trenton."

I held back my grin and sought out a note pad and pen from the pile on the side table and sat down to make notes. "Now can we start at the beginning?" I ask and Amelia Nugent Hartsfield takes a deep breath and prepares to speak.

Adam's POV

I can't believe he's here. I always wondered what happened to him, you would wouldn't you. If my efforts, as little as they were, had actually saved the life of another.

He was supposed to be my enemy, but I couldn't leave him there bleeding out on the cold ground when all he had done was obeyed orders the same as I had. At least it was Frog that got him, if Vlad had been the one he faced, he wouldn't be here to tell the tale. Frog was bad enough, used his gun to merely wound and then liked to finish his kills up close and personal and loved to use his knives and even on occasion his teeth. He was an animal, cold blooded like the reptile he was named for. He stank to high heaven and maintained that it was another weapon in his arsenal, as if you could make your opponents' eyes water it was an advantage.

I turn the belt in my hands and it feels like an old friend has returned to me. Stained by the blood of another, the leather cracked and faded, it's a part of me I never thought I'd get back. The basic first aid that I performed on the man I know now as Jamie was that the last act of the man who knew what duty and honour were? When this strip of leather was left with the man with the flaming red hair who was bleeding on the ground it's as if I left my humanity behind with him. The creature who got back into that Land Rover was so heart weary and soul dead that it took years for them to come back to life. Nana you would be so ashamed of what I became.

When I was very young my Great Grandmother seemed to be an ancient, wizened and frail old woman with this great repository of sayings, some of which always made sense to me, while others didn't. My brother, Howard and I lived with her and my Grandparents after my mother left when I was 6 and he was 8. Nothing bad happened to her, she just decided she's had enough of playing Mom and started a new life with a new man in a new state without the encumbrances of children. We never missed her much as the house was filled with so much love.

She turned 90 the same year I turned 21 and as I got older the age difference between us shrunk until it didn't seem to matter anymore. She was the wisest woman I've ever known and I adored her and valued her opinions. She had lived through so much, lost so many that she loved, but she just wouldn't quit, she got up every morning and just kept on going.

She used to say that my brother's heart would never be broken as he saw his greatest love every time he looked in a mirror and that he had a hole in his soul that nothing could fill. As a child I thought her cruel, but as we grew up and his narcissism and egotism became blatantly apparent, then I could see what she saw in him from the very first. She was just being honest, hoping to shock him out of his self love and to save him from a wasted life of relationships based solely on appearances and his relentless pursuit of the next new thing to tempt his increasingly jaded palate. That was his sole reason for living, right up until the time when the hottest designer drug stopped that untouched heart in the middle of the newest trendy club 4 days before my 25th birthday.

Me, she maintained that my heart would always be empty until I could learn to love myself a little. That I was my own severest critic and that even in my youth I strove for a level of perfection that no one could ever have achieved. I needed to learn to accept my limitations and to enjoy who I was and take pleasure in my achievements and learn from my mistakes, but not to dwell on them. She died the day after Howie did her great loving heart unable to cope with this latest loss; it just gave out on her. That was the day that I lost my greatest ally and staunchest defender.

She'd been ailing for a long time, her letters to me no longer written in her expressive and flowing hand, but instead typed up on a laptop as she dictated them to the next door neighbour's daughter, who for a few dollars was happy to take down, what she described to me later as 'the ramblings of a crazy old lady' but every word made sense to me.

She left me her library, which consisted of a beautifully carved pine blanket box full of the works of the great authors and philosophers and I read them all, but missed the one thing that they were all trying to tell me.

That we are all flawed, each and every one of us has some part that they hate, some have only one, others have many, but the only one that can see all of them at once is the person looking back at you in the mirror. And it magnifies them if you look at them for too long, giving the observer a distorted view of themselves. The true worth of a man is in who loves him because of his faults.

Stephanie sees me, not as the monumental screw up that I know myself to be, she sees my virtues first and my vices last, where I have only ever seen my vices. The same goes for Ranger, he sees a competent soldier, one whom he can trust with the life of his woman, not the ball of neuroses that I know myself to be.

Well Nana, I think I finally just got the lesson that you tried so hard to teach me. The reactions of the guys as they clustered round me, the hugs, the back slapping, the fist poundings and high-fives. Seeing their joy that I'm still alive and kicking showed me something I don't think I've ever really appreciated before. These people love me; these men and women form a circle of family born not out of blood but out of common purpose and shared values. Nana, you would be happy here. I know I am.

I BELONG! I want to shout it to the heavens, to make the furthest away of the visible stars ring with my exultation. Instead I'll smile and take the proffered coffee from Woody and join the discussion at hand. My new street name, it would appear is Lazarus, as the first Rangeman to return from the, as Lester puts it with a hammy film announcer voice 'The Great Beyooooonnnnddd!'

And then with Bobby, Binky and Hal all doing the twilight zone music

Cal calls out in his best Rod Serling voice.

"You unlock this door with the key of imagination,

Beyond it is another dimension,

A dimension of sound,

A dimension of sight,

A dimension of mind,

You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance,

Of things and ideas,

You just crossed over into." he pauses and holds out his hands in appeal and the entire control room, each grin wider than the face that holds it shouts out "The twilight zone."

"No." the voice, low though it is, cuts through the laughter and chatter and we all turn to face it. Ranger, his face sober "The twilight zone's a Sunday school picnic in comparison to working here." he smiles sadly. "There seems to be a large pile of envelopes on my desk, I haven't opened them, anyone wishing to withdraw theirs, please do so by tomorrow morning."

Tank's POV

We slowly disperse, most going to his office to take their hastily written resignations from the pile and vowing to believe in him next time. It's not so easy for me; I resigned in deed, not in word when I refused to help him find Steph when she ran from Bobby. I didn't just defy him, I betrayed him and I wonder if he can forgive me. Thing is, I would do it again in a heartbeat if she needed me to. As much as I am here to watch his back, I am here to protect hers as well and occasionally the two seem to be mutually exclusive. Just another complication to be mulled over, I guess.

We're heading to the Batcave to assess the situation and I'm not sure I want her to see the damage they have wrought on our private spaces. I'm not looking forward to it either. This day has been one of the longest and most painful of my life and it's not over yet. I have lost my home, my heart and the trust of one of my oldest friends, on reflection; I think that getting shot hurts way less.

Lester's POV

I can't believe how little is left of the place. This burnt out shell was not too long ago my home. I've never had that much stuff, a few trinkets and a photo or two. But it looks like these bastards haven't even left me that. Behind me I can hear her gentle sobs as she surveys it.

Bobby and Tank are carrying on a low voiced conversation, but I am too tired and too shocked to take much of it in. "Come on," Tank tells me as he draws level. I don't think I need to see what I cherished reduced to blackened and charred debris. But I follow him anyway.

Inside it's worse, way worse and there truly is nothing left. They must have trashed it before they set fire to it and the high pressure of the Fire Department's hoses did the rest. His library, his pride and joy has been reduced to soupy cinders beneath my feet as I make my way carefully up the splintered and cracked staircase.

Steph's POV

His home, his sanctuary, the one place in the Universe where he can be Carlos, has been reduced to smoking ash. I stand at his back as he looks around and I see his proud shoulders slump imperceptibly and I know he's hurting. I step forward and press my cheek into his back and wind my arms around his waist. His hands cover mine and I feel instead of hear the sigh that escapes him.

"We'll rebuild it." I tell him.

"No." His voice is soft yet emphatic. "This was my beginning and I can't get that back" his hands squeezed mine.

Bobby's POV

I never knew how much this place meant to me until I see it like this. I always maintained that I would never put down roots, that I would be a free soul forever. I was kidding myself; these four walls were my home. Owning bricks and mortar, being one of these guys that spend the weekend in Home Depot buying power tools, now that was never going to be me. But I was fooling myself. I loved having somewhere that was mine, a place that I thought no-one could take away from me. I was wrong about that. Vlad you bastard, I do hope the General has some fun plans for you.

Tank's POV

I am defeated; I can go on no longer. I want to put my aching head in my hands and weep. I can salvage nothing. It seems that they used everything I treasured as fuel. I think I'll go to bed and not get up until a week next Tuesday.

Her face is streaked with ash as she makes her over to me. Silently, each of the others joins me and we spend a last few seconds in silent contemplation.

"Could you save anything?" she asks me and I shake my head. I look round at the others knowing full well that they have nothing either.

Vlad may have been finally defeated but the blow that he struck is one that it's going to be difficult to recover from.

Silent, foot sore and heart weary we return to Haywood.

The conference room is empty, they've been moved on to a safe house for the night and tomorrow Morelli can decide what he wants to do. I just know that if she is here I don't want to be. Stephanie herds us all to the break room and hands round coffee.

Her chair abuts his, her weary head on his shoulder and the fingers entwined on their clasped hands. It's good to see them together.

"Guys?" Adam's voice is soft and we all turn to face him. In one hand he is clutching his duffel and when he reaches us he puts it on the table. His hand runs through his hair, leaving peaks and troughs in its wake. "I'm sorry, I didn't have time to tell you earlier, but I managed to grab a few things from your apartments before we evacuated. I didn't go looking, just grabbed the stuff that was visible." He takes out a small bag and peers in "Les, I think that's yours." and hands it over. "It's not much and I'm sorry if I missed anything"

Mine is last, the bag feels pitifully empty when placed into my waiting hands. I look in and find the only family photo I possess, taken when I was a kid, but to me it's priceless. The others are there too, the one of the team together, taken just before our first mission. My grandmother and I taken on my first home leave her smile as wide as her face and her pride in me obvious. These are my treasures and Adam has saved them all. I hold them to my heart for a long moment, eyes closed, feeling the tightness in my chest loosen just a fraction. I look up at him, his hands clutched around a cup of coffee. "Thank you" I tell him unable to stop the tears from rushing to my eyes.

He nods "Sure, you're welcome" and he takes his bag and leaves us. By the looks of the others, they are as pleased by Adam's thoughtfulness as I am. Lester stands and wishes us good night and Bobby follows. I answer them and watch them leave. Stephanie heads for the rest room and I find the courage to say my piece aided by the calming weight of my treasures in my hands. I turn to Ranger. "I betrayed you today; I took her side against you. If you want me to go?" I left it hanging, hoping against hope he would forgive me.

He rubbed his ash smeared face and sighed "You were right and I was wrong. I can't see past her safety sometimes, my need to know she is OK blinds me to everything else. If you can't work with me anymore I'll understand, but I would like you to stay. I need you to see the bigger picture and to watch our backs when I can't."

"Don't I always?" I grin; glad to be off the hook.

"Yes and I don't say Thank you enough." he tells me and looks up as she comes back into the room and heads towards us.

"You don't need to" I tell him "Just promise me you won't let her get away."

"Promise." he shot me a grin and the corners of my own mouth turned up in answer.

"Carlos, I'm beat." she tells him and he grabs his salvaged possessions in one hand and takes her hand with the other "Night Tank." he tells me and she echoes his words.

"Goodnight." I tell them both.

He stops and turns back "I haven't called off the cavalry." he tells me.

"It's OK, I got it" I tell him and finish my coffee and head back to my office to inform the other Rangeman offices that we don't need them to come to our rescue. They can keep the feeds overnight so that we can don't have to man the control room tonight and we can all get some much needed rest. I find Sin, Adam and Flighter playing cards and talking in the break room and they offer to go out if there are any problems during the night and I gladly accept.

I open the door to the utility flat that is now my only home. I place my precious photos on my desk and head for the shower. I stand beneath the spray allowing the tensions of today to wash from me along with the dirt and the sweat. I scrub myself thoroughly hoping that I have removed all traces of her from me. The sheets I bundle up and throw at the hamper and take a fresh set from the cupboard. The pillows she used end up with the dirty sheets.

I hear a click, like my front door just closed and I follow the sound to find a pint of ice cream on my coffee table with a note.

'Tank

I find this always makes me feel better when I hurt.

Hope it does the same for you.

Call me if you need me

Steph. XX'

I drop the note back down and pick up my unexpected gift. I head for my kitchen in search of a spoon. Its cookie dough ice cream and I prise off the lid and take an experimental taste and then another. I decide that I like it and settle down on the sofa with the ice cream and the remote. Maybe I can find something to watch with it? I flip through the channels and pause. Excellent, it's a Chuck Norris marathon and Delta Force is just starting.

Maybe the temperature of the ice cream has numbed my heart or maybe the thoughtfulness of her gift has soothed it, who knows? But I do feel a little better.

Looks like my heartache can wait until tomorrow. For now I have Chuck, Ben and Jerry and for tonight it's enough.

Ranger's POV

It's gone and there is nothing I can do to bring it back. It was almost time to give it up anyway as that wouldn't have been somewhere we could raise a family. But listen to me; I don't even know if she wants kids. Maybe it's about time I got around to asking her. But that's in the future.

Let's just start with tomorrow. We should get together and see what we want to do. We now have the blankest of canvases after all. I like the thought of a bigger better Batcave rising like a phoenix from the ashes of the old. It would be good if we could still have our apartments together, but maybe the guys would want to move on. There are a myriad of possibilities and it's going to be fun exploring them all. That brownstone may have been our beginning, but we didn't end with its demise, far from it, we survived and we will rebuild bigger and better.

I look down at her sleeping face. The cares of the day have caught up with her even in repose and I know that she is worried about us all. She tosses and turns and her hair looks even crazier than usual across the pillow. I smooth back her curls and she turns into my hand seeking comfort and to be honest I get as much of it back as this small gesture brings her.

She dug deeply into her private store to share her ice cream with Tank. I didn't like to tell her that he doesn't eat ice cream, but I am sure that he appreciated the gesture. I should go and check on him.

I slip out of the apartment and make my way to Tank's. His door is unlocked so I open it and look in. The sight makes me laugh and I stifle it so as not to wake him. He's there with what looks like an empty ice cream tub balanced on one leg and the remote control on the other. His big bare feet are on the edge of his coffee table and his head is back and a series of the most wonderfully orchestral snores emanate from that open mouth. I came down to see if he wanted to talk, but it looks like Stephanie's remedy is more efficacious than I ever thought. Sleep well old friend it can all wait until tomorrow.

Sin, Adam and Flighter have the night shift, less than usual, but after today I wasn't expecting anyone to want the gig. I must make sure they get a little extra. They greet me as I enter and I sit with them for a little while listening to Adam explain how he and Sin first met and his role as Sin's saviour. I am glad that they were reunited and Sin can finally thank him. It's been eating at him for as long as I have known him.

With the place safe and secure I head for the comfort of my bed and the warmth of my companion. That's a bland word for what she means to me. What else do I call her?

Girlfriend? No, too high school.

Mate? No, makes us sounds like animals.

My woman? It's a start, but I think she would sound better as my wife.

Now all I have to do is to sort out her giving up her death trap apartment, deal with her mother's fixation that she only marries Joe and ask about her thoughts on marriage and children. Oh yes and find us a new place to live if she doesn't want to rebuild the old one. A short list, but the most important one of my life.

As I slip in alongside her and she moulds herself to me like a living blanket, I feel myself relax, my stress expelled with my breath and I fall asleep, her curls tickling my nose and her warm soft body curled into mine. She is my nexus, my fixed point in a changing world.

There is no place in the Universe that I would rather be.

The End.

Dedications, acknowledgements, play list and general daftness.

To you, my readers and reviewers thank you for your time. Your patience and kindness knows no bounds, I really don't deserve it.

To her Imperial Majesty, Cartagia, with all my heartfelt thanks for her invaluable input, her help, timely advice and for serving as my thesaurus when necessary. You are a star, the brightest in my heavens. I've been inflicting my writing on you for a long time now and you never fail to aid and abet me and make me believe that my talent is greater than it actually is. Thank you *huge hug*

To Plato, E'pharisto for the wonderful Symposium, which I have shamelessly and wilfully misquoted.

And that brings me to Elena, my wonderful Professora, who helped a simple scientist grasp the complexities and see the nuances of the greatest of the classical philosophers as well as enough understanding and confidence to be able to quote them! Gracias seems so inadequate for the help you have given me.

My thanks also to Ernst Blofeld and his cat Solomon for their unwilling and probably illegal mention in this story; what can I say, I was feeling whimsical. Tell me that you on a really bad day haven't considered the use of, lasers, shark pools or nerve gas on life's little irritants? No? That's just me then... Oh well.

To Vlad III Tepes, also affectionately known as the Impaler, what can I say, ă mulţumesc for your unwitting help too.

And Rod Serling of Twilight Zone fame, to you Sir, I give my thanks; you were the man that first introduced my childish mind to the wonders of science fiction. Yes that's right, I'm blaming you.

To Sun Tzu, thank you for such a perfect quote and thank you to the kind souls at I-books who let me download it for free.

Although I'm sure that my phrasing gave the game away a long time ago, I'm Scottish and I wish to pass on to you all my favourite Celtic blessing.

May you have - Walls for the wind,
A roof for the rain and drinks beside the fire.
Laughter to cheer you and those you love near you,
And all that your heart may desire.

Slàinte (Cheers)

Unless you happen to have a muse that you don't want? Anything considered? Only qualities I really need is for them to be are enthusiastic, hard working and partial to a bit of daftness. If you hear of one, please let me know!

On a more serious note, some of the feedback I have received lately has made me reconsider my need for a beta reader; it was a bit arrogant of me to think that I was doing all right without one. Please PM me with your opinions.

Until next time.

With my grateful thanks to you all.

Valzie.

This seems to be a habit, so I should include it.

Play list.

Next Contestant- Nickelback

Rebel Yell- Billy Idol

Echo Beach- Martha and the Muffins

If I was- Midge Ure

Love and Pride- King

Ace of Spades- Motorhead

Killer – Adamski

Closer- Nine Inch Nails.

Two Steps Behind- Def Leppard

You Only Live Twice- Nancy Sinatra

Enjoy The Silence- Depeche Mode

Neptune- InMe

Hazy Shade of Winter – The Bangles

Behind Blue Eyes- The Who

Closer To The Edge- 30 Seconds To Mars

Say You'll Haunt Me- Stone Sour

Do You Believe In Shame?- Duran Duran

Vlad The Impaler- Kasabian

Superstition- Stevie Wonder

Train – Drops of Jupiter

Johnny Cash - Hurt

Kate Bush – Army Dreaming

And the 80's hit to get stuck in my head? This one's a beauty.

Tenpole Tudor's wonderful Swords Of A Thousand Men. Again, if you know it please laugh, if not please do not go and look it up as it will take root in yours. You have been warned!