A/N: Thanks to all of you for sticking with a Christmas story well past Christmas. Virtual hugs to latetolove who bravely offered to serve as a beta for my first multi-chapter story. This story was infinitely better because of her input.

Ranger's POV

On December 23, Trenton awoke to a fresh blanket of snow. It wasn't a surprise, as every meteorologist in the area had been predicting a white Christmas.

The call at midnight about a fire at a client's riverfront warehouse wasn't exactly expected, but these things happen in the security business. It had taken most of the night, but ultimately we were able to determine that a faulty space heater in a night watchman's office, rather than arson, had caused the blaze.

Seeing Steph's RAV4 pull into the parking garage at 6 am … now that was startling. I had been back at Haywood for less than an hour, just long enough to shower away the smoke and soot and grab a cup of black coffee on my way to the control room. As I watched her ease into the parking space next to the Turbo, I felt a pang of concern while I considered what could get Steph out of bed this early. Nightmares? An early morning intruder at her apartment?

Yet she was smiling when she gave a little finger wave to the camera and moved toward the elevator. My heart beat a little faster as I waited for her to push the button for seven. I was shocked when she hit three instead and moments later entered the gym. She peeled off layers of clothing until she got to down to running shorts and a long-sleeved black t-shirt and climbed onto the treadmill.

After a quick call to Ella to request Steph's favorite pancakes for breakfast, I took the stairs to three, stripped down to running shorts and climbed on the treadmill next to her. I'm a little taller than Stephanie, and my stride is longer. My attitude toward running is a bit more … positive than hers. Nevertheless, I was surprised at how easy it was to match my pace to Steph's. A few adjustments and accommodations, and our feet hit our respective belts in unison, pounding out a companionable rhythm.

"Missed you yesterday," I began. I knew she had been in the building yesterday, and it was unusual our paths hadn't crossed. She shrugged slightly. "Busy day."

I don't really like to talk when I drive. Stephanie calls it my driving zone. Steph doesn't like to talk when she runs. I've teased her about her running zone, but she says she just doesn't want to waste any oxygen on casual conversation.

As we approached mile five, I thought she would be ready to slow down, and we could talk. "You're here early today," I commented.

"Couldn't sleep. Final day for Operation Jolly Old Elf. We deliver presents today."

That seemed liked the opening I needed. "So about Christmas," I began. Steph glanced over at me, a ghost of a smile on her lips. She surprised me by tapping the speed button on her treadmill and breaking into a sprint.

After three-quarters of a mile, she abruptly hopped off the machine and took two steps toward the wall. Facing away from me, she bent at the waist, hands resting on her knees for support. She was breathing heavily.

"Babe," I said. Why are trying to run away from me? I meant to say. "You need to cool down after you run like that. You'll get muscle cramps."

"This is better training," she panted. "In real life, I run as fast as I can after a skip, and when I catch him, I stop. Immediately."

"So do I get to play the role of your skip today?" I asked. I'm pretty sure I was smiling.

"Yeah right," she said. "Like I could catch you."

I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her close to me. You caught me a long time ago, Babe."

"You don't want to hug me. I'm all sweaty and gross."

I leaned over and gave the back of her neck a little lick. Oh, but you're wrong, Babe. I most definitely do want this. If only I could tell you what else wanted. "Hmmm," I said. "Salty and sweet and definitely not gross," We stood like that for a moment, her back to my front. Eventually, Steph's breathing slowed.

"About your Christmas present," I began. "What I want to give you is hard to wrap." She was perfectly still in my arms, waiting for me to continue. "My parents are going to Miami so they can spend Christmas with Antonio and his family. My sisters and their families are going, too." I felt Steph's breathing quicken again, and I tried to pull her even closer. "We could go with them." My voice was whisper in her ear. "Go to midnight mass on Christmas Eve. Big breakfast on Christmas morning after my nieces and nephews open their presents." I pressed a kiss to her neck and hurried on before she could respond, and before I could have second thoughts. "You said you wanted to spend some time with Julie. Rachel said that we could have Julie late on Christmas Day, after they finish celebrating with Ron's family."

"Ranger, I would love to go to Miami with you!" She paused and when she spoke again, her voice sounded sad. "Unfortunately, I already have plans for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day."

"Of course," I said. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have waited so long to ask." If only I had talked with Mary Lou a little sooner. "I should have realized that would have plans to celebrate Christmas with your family."

"It's not my family." Her voice was barely above a whisper. "I promised a friend."

I had moved my hands from her waist to her shoulders. When I began to caress her arms, running my fingers down from her shoulders to her elbows, I felt her stiffen and pull away.

It hit me. I hadn't just waited too long to make plans for Christmas. I had waited too long. She was spending Christmas with Morelli.

Steph suddenly got the hang of the ESP thing, or maybe her habits were rubbing off on me and I had said that last part out loud. "Morelli? No. Why would I spend the holidays with Joe?" She was facing me now. She wrinkled her forehead and stopped rubbing her shoulder for a moment. "I have a date with Rangeman," she said.

I tried to make sense of the emotions that suddenly welled up and threatened to spill out of the place where I kept them safely locked away most of the time. Anger. Disappointment. Dread. "Which one, Stephanie? Tell me it's not Lester," I said through gritted teeth. Then I remembered the time she spent on three yesterday. "Bobby?" I felt an ache in my chest. "You have a date with Bobby?"

I vaguely noticed she was rubbing her left shoulder again. "Bobby? What? No!" she said. "I didn't say I have a date with a Rangeman. I have a date with Rangeman. I'm working the evening monitor shift."

I was confused. "But that's my shift, or it was until I traded with Bobby."

"Bobby didn't know why you wanted time off, and I owed Bobby for a really, really big favor. I volunteered so he could spend time with Anna."

That's my Babe. Always trying to do something nice for someone else. "I bet one of the guys would be happy to take those shifts, Babe." Even on Christmas, I knew that most of the guys would do anything for Stephanie. Triple holiday pay probably wouldn't hurt either.

"Ranger," her voice was firm. "How would one of the guys working Bobby's shift allow me repay his favor?" I saw an odd look cross her face before she continued. "Besides, I have other Rangeman business I need to attend to for the next couple of days."

"Explain."

Steph drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "This wasn't the way I had envisioned the unwrapping of your present." She tugged her t-shirt over her head and stood before me in her black sports bra, her arms crossed across her chest. "It's not like you'll have to worry or wonder where I am," she said softly. "Not any more." Her fingers played with a small square of gauze just below her left shoulder."

I peeled off the tape holding the gauze in place and immediately recognized Bobby's handiwork. I had seen it before, when Antonio and Silvio had enrolled in the DOD's implantable GPS trial.

I pulled Steph into my arms and searched her eyes for answers. I hoped I understood, but I needed to hear her say it. I thought I heard my voice crack a little when I urged her again, "Tell me why … please."

She tilted her face and brushed her lips across mine. "Thought you could use a little help keeping me safe, Batman." She deepened the kiss, teasing me with her tongue. "I want to make sure you can find me when I need you … and when you need me."

"I would never have asked this of you," I managed between kisses. Then the reality hit me, and I pulled away from her just enough to meet her gaze. "Tank let you into the trial."

"I met all the qualifications." Her hands fisted in my hair, tugging me closer again. "I'm not planning on going anywhere."

The persistent ringing of my phone finally interrupted our embrace.

"Quite a crowd has gathered in the control room, dear." Ella said matter-of-factly. "It might be a good idea if you scrambled the cameras, or you and Stephanie finished your conversation on seven."

It was a couple of hours before the subject of Christmas came up again. We lay in my bed, wrapped in a tangle of Egyptian cotton sheets. Steph was sprawled across my chest, tracing lazy circles on my skin with her fingertips. I needed to call Tank to ask him to take over my meetings for the day. We were definitely not getting out of bed for the rest of the day.

"We really need to get out of bed and get dressed, " Stephanie sighed. "We have Christmas presents to deliver."

"I'm sorry about your Christmas present, Babe."

"Oh no you don't, Mister." She pushed herself up off my chest and looked me in the eye. "No fair taking your present back."

"You're the one who said you couldn't go to Miami tomorrow, Babe," I protested.

""I thought your gift was that I could meet your family and spend time with Julie," she reminded me. "I'm guessing all of that will still be possible on the day after Christmas. So you can fly down tomorrow and I'll join you on the 26th."

I rolled us so Steph was under me. "Not possible." I brushed light kisses across her eyelids, the tip of her nose and finally her lips, kissing away her look of disappointment. "I'll work monitors with you on the 24th, and we can spend Christmas morning with your family. If you really want to, we can fly down together after our evening shift is over Christmas night." I kissed her again before she could argue. "You know, I have to say I really like the idea of knowing where you are morning and night."

"Not morning, noon and night?" she questioned.

"Now that you work at Rangeman, I pretty much know where you are at noon, Babe."

"So you'll just check the tracker morning and night?"

I took a deep breath before answering her. "No, Steph. Hector will periodically check the signal from your tracker just like he does with Silvio and Antonio. I don't plan to look at the signal at all unless there is some sort of … emergency. I really hope that never happens," I added.

"So you only get your Christmas present if I get kidnapped by another psycho stalker? That hardly seems fair."

"Babe," I gently tilted her chin so she had to look me in the eye. "Your gift to me was that you were willing to sacrifice something important to you because you wanted to make me happy." After a moment, I added, "Anything that keeps you safe makes me happy."

She smiled and snuggled back into my chest. "So, morning and night. You want to call me, or should I just send you a text?"

"If you fell asleep in our bed every night, it would be easy for me to know exactly where you are … every night, every morning."

"Our bed? We have a bed now?"

"We should. We should have a nice big bed in the home that we share, and we should spend as much time there as possible."

I heard a contented moan escape from Steph's lips as my arms tightened around her. "I'd like that," she said.

For both of us, that was the best Christmas present ever.

the end