My loyal amazing readers! Please don't hurt me for not updating You Can't Escape Fate. I haven't offically gotten my mojo back for that story and I don't want you as readers to notice a shift in the writing tone because I worked on it before I was ready. But! Here is a one shot that I have had the idea for for many years and finally got the inspiration to write! Hopefully you like it as much as I do.

Song: 1000 Words by Sweetbox. I did not use the complete song, I used the shortened version that is used in the video game Final Fantasy X-2.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything. Characters. Song. Nada.

Italics: Keep in mind while you are reading that the italics are flashbacks! The bold italics are song lyrics.

I had always feared that this could possibly occur. It was one of those things that terrified me so much that I always pushed it into the back of my mind. I kept it tight in a place where it was so dark that it was not able to make its way into my coherent thought. I made myself believe that it was an impossibility. But the phone call we received only minutes before, well, it turned that impossibility into reality.

Ranger had missed all of his checkpoints during his current mission. He was in the wind and he was not coming back.

When he left four months ago we didn't treat it as a goodbye. The things that were said. The actions that we partook in. A lone tear fell down my check as I filled myself with regret. I should not have taken his life or death job so simply. I should not have let him leave after that fight. I should not have let him leave without saying goodbye; without reassuring him to how I feel.

This was not supposed to happen.

Batman was supposed to be invincible.

I stood on the Rangeman roof, peering at the sun as it set across my hometown of Trenton. I guess it still had not completely sunken in that he was gone. I always thought that a piece of me would die with him to signal to me that he had traveled on farther than anyone could reach him. I did not feel a thing. I had been quietly sitting in my office when a disheveled looking Tank walked in and closed the door, explaining to me the call with the government and the plans of action that needed to be commenced. I tuned him out as soon as he said 'Ranger is presumed dead due to the danger of the mission and his lack of communication.'

I know that you're hiding things
Using gentle words to shelter me
Your words were like a dream
But dreams will never fool me
Not that easily.

I had been sitting at my desk all day doing searches for the mysterious Rodriguez. My back was stiff, my butt was numb, and my stomach was loud enough to be believed that an animal currently resided in there trying to get out. I was on the verge of an explosion and I had eaten the last tasty cake that I had hidden in my desk yesterday and I had forgotten to buy more.

I had been watching the door to Ranger's office all day from my cubicle, looking for any indication of life coming from inside of it. From what he had told me last night he only had a business meeting in the morning and then would be back for our lunch date at noon. It was currently creeping close to the end of my shift at five and no one but Tank had heard a word from him.

And it is well known that getting information out of Tank is almost an impossibility unto itself.

As I was getting ready to shut down my computer for the day a new email popped up in the corner of my screen simply saying 'meet me on seven.' The nerve of him to skip our date without letting me know and then demand that I meet him at his apartment as I was about to leave to save my stomach from eating itself. The only thing that would calm me down was if he had Ella's amazing cooking waiting for me when I arrived.

As soon as the elevator doors opened I let out a sigh of relief because the aroma of Ella's cooking permeated in the air. The door to his apartment was slightly open and I took that as an invitation to go on inside. I put my keys in the basket, took off my shoes, and found him in his bedroom bent at his safe. I did not have to see what he was putting in his bag to know what he was doing. He had received a call and he was preparing to leave whenever they snapped their fingers.

I acted so distant then
Didn't say goodbye before you left
But I was listening
You fight you battles far from me
For too easily

He turned as I entered the doorway. He stayed crutched on his knees on the floor and starred at me with the emotionless eyes I almost had forgotten about. We had been together for months now. He had been slowly letting me into his life and letting me know the Carlos that was tucked away deep inside. I could always read the difference in each emotion through the depths of his eyes and the set of his face. I had not seen his blank face after expressing how much it concerned me because I had no idea how to proceed. He had been cautious enough not to use it and to discuss problems instead of hiding them. I was shocked to say the least.

"When?" I questioned when I realized that he had no intention of starting the conversation.

He starred for a second before turned back to the safe and taking out the necessary arsenal for his upcoming mission. "The helicopter should be landing on the roof at eight o'clock tonight."

I waited a couple moments before asking, "How long?"

He stayed silent so I turned and left for the kitchen in search of what Ella had miraculously made. There was only a single plate on the kitchen counter that had way too many calories and grease than Ranger was known to consume so I grabbed it and sat at the table. If he wanted to play the quiet game, then I'm going to sate my hunger until he decided what he wanted to do.

"Save your tears cause I'll come back"
I could hear that you whispered as you walked through that door
And still I swore to hide the pain when I turn back the pages
Shouting might have been the answer
What if I'd cried my eyes out and begged you not to depart?
But now I'm not afraid to say what's in my heart

Looking back, his long hair had been slightly unkempt due to what I can assume was him pushing his hands through it and there was a slight wrinkle in his black clothing that should have told me how difficult it was on him as well. At the time, I didn't notice those things. I only noticed the way that his blank face had slammed into place as he acted completely unaffected by having to leave and possibly not come back. He had once said that his blank face was his defensive shield from being affected emotionally. I never took that into consideration. I was set on believing that he did not want to let me into that important part of his life.

I moved over to the chairs that the men had set up and stretched my feet out in front of me. The only remnant of the sunrise was the faint yellow hews across the horizon and the temperature had dropped. I just couldn't find it in me to return back to the building and to my apartment. I couldn't find it in me to care.

He was gone.

No more surprise trips to the back alley of the bonds office. No more voice to be there to say 'I'm proud of you' at the end of the day. No more tingling feelings to arise at the back of my neck when he was near. As the darkness started to consume the sky darkness started to overtake my being. Now that I was sitting I realized that my body had started to shake and then, the first tear fell down my cheek.

I have never regretted something as much as I did at this moment.

I pulled my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around my legs as I starred up at the night sky. The constellations showed bright, the legendary heroes of ancient mythological stories marked immortal amongst the stars.

Cause a thousand words
Called out through the ages
They'll fly to you
Even though I can't see
I know they're reaching you
Suspended on silver wings

After ten minutes of sitting in silence he finally exited the room with his duffle bag flung over his shoulder and set it beside the door before coming to sit across from me at the table. I stared at him silently, waiting for him to finally give an answer to my earlier question.

"I do not know how long I'm going to be." He stated simply. Nothing else. No reassurance. No hint at was he was getting himself into.

"Is that it?"'

"You know that there is not anything else that I can tell you."

The way that those words came out of his mouth indicated something else; that it wasn't that he couldn't tell me, he didn't want to.

"Ranger, I don't understand why you can't…"

"Stephanie!" He interrupted me. "You knew before this," he indicated between the two of us with the wave us his hands, "that there was information about what I do that had to remain a secret. I do not need the government on my ass because you needed to be informed about every detail about the mission that I am being sent on. Yes, it is dangerous. Yes, there is a chance that I won't come back but the rest is information that you're going to always be left in the dark about whenever I get shipped off."

I starred in shock at the man in front of me. I felt as if I had been physically slapped in the face because of the words he just said. The anger was coming off of him in waves and it was all directed at me.

Oh a thousand words
One thousand embraces
Will cradle you
Making all of your weary days seem far away
They'll hold you forever

I realize now that all of the anger wasn't directed at me. He was mad that he had to be shipped off again to play a merciless puppet for however long they decided to keep him. There are so many things that I wanted to say. There were so many things that were left unsaid and now never would be. I wish instead of leaving instantly like I had that I slowly rose out of my seat and walked over to his side, that I had stood there until he acknowledged my presence and let me in. But I ran away from the problem like I am known to do and this time, no matter how far into the land of denial I went, nothing could distract me from the raw pain that encompassed my chest.

I closed my eyes as hard as I could in an effort to stop the stream of tears down my face and I rested my forehead against my legs.

I drove home in a daze and instantly went into my bedroom to lie down in my thinking position, which consisted of laying spread eagle on my back across my bed. It wasn't until I felt the shift of the bed beside me that I figured that I had fallen asleep. The tingle at the base of my neck told me who was taken a current residence beside me so I kept my eyes shut.

"Babe," I heard softly. I knew that he knew that I was faking unconsciousness but I still kept them tightly shut. I felt another shift of the mattress as he rose to stand up. I heard the sound of his belt fall to the floor, the sound of his zipper sliding south bound on his pants, and the subtle brush of fabric as I assumed he removed his shirt from his well chiseled chest. It was then that I opened my eyes and shifted them to the bedside clock, subtracting the time that it took to get back to Rangeman.

We only one hour and forty seven minutes until he was taken away from me once again. And what a way we used that time.

The time together that we had was up and I remained curled naked on my side as he redressed into his missionary attire. I watched as he transformed from Carlos into Ranger. I was still hurt by the words that he had said at his apartment so I remained quiet instead of speaking in hushed voices like we usually did. When he was complete he turned and looked at me, his eyes showing the conflict that he was debating on what came next. He had never raised his voice like that to me before and he had no idea what to say to fix it.

He walked over and stood beside the bed as he starred down at me. With a sigh, he bent down so we were face to face. "I'll always come back to you. I love you." I didn't respond. He leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on my forehead as he got up to leave. He paused between the doorframe. "Wait for me" he whispered before he disappeared into the wind.

My body was jostled but I was too stricken by grief to care about the person that was moving me. I clutched onto the shirt and rested my head in the curve of their neck. The scent of Bvlgari instantly calmed me down and put me to sleep.

Oh a thousand words
Call out through the ages
They'll fly to you
They'll carry you home
And back into my arms
Suspended on silver wings

Review! Please and thank you.