Ranger, Stephanie, Rex, and anything else familiar, still belong to Janet. Mistakes are solely mine.

"This sucks," I informed Rex, as if he doesn't already know not being able to sleep is sucky, since my rattling around the kitchen is keeping him up.

I narrowed my eyes at him. I can feel him willing me away from here.

"Fine," I told him after another stink-eyed stare. "I'll just grab the bottle and a glass and go, so at least you can get some rest."

As Ranger has pointed out many times, I'm really cranky when I'm tired. I'm downright bitchy when I'm completely exhausted and can't do a damn thing about it. I glared at the couch while I walked right by it. I'll be in a coma if I make it to a second glass of wine so I may as well just start off in bed.

I realized a major problem with my decision seconds after I filled my glass and sat with my back up against my pillows. Ranger's sweatshirt was thrown across the foot of my bed from when I took it off before heading for a shower and my pjs. I toasted his Rangewear and knocked back a glug big enough to have me sputtering a little.

While I was wiping at the cough-caused tears that shot from my eyes, I really began to take notice of how much Batman has infiltrated my apartment. He was clearly tired of having no food in my kitchen to create some semblance of a breakfast after one of the runs he persuaded me into joining him for, so I'm now the proud owner of a high-tech toaster plus two bags of whole-wheat bagels. One for the counter, and one left waiting in the wings in the freezer. I also have a windbreaker in my closet that he'd chivalrously taken off and put on me when we got hit with a rain cloud right after leaving our vehicle to make an outdoor arrest.

He refused to take it back the next day when I told myself it'd be wrong to keep it and forced myself to drive to Rangeman to return it. In hindsight, I know I went there just to see him. Listing these things one after the other, had me wondering if he had some covert plan going on to get me so used to his person near me and his things around me, I won't think twice if it ever turns permanent.

I took another big gulp of my Cabernet, also Ranger-provided from an impromptu pizza date he wanted to make feel more special, as I tried to picture what actually living with Ranger 24/7 would look and feel like. If that is his plan, it's already working too well ... because I've had to stop myself a couple of times from asking Ella if she can order an extra bottle of Ranger's evil shower gel for me next time she stocks up on it. The only thing that has stopped me, is fearing he'd find out about the request. That's an embarrassing conversation I want to avoid at all costs.

Hmmm ... I can't sleep, Ranger knows all the fun things to do that get me not only sleepy, but so relaxed ... I always fear I'll never get my bones to fuse back together after they've been under the attention of his mouth and hands for longer than a minute. And I've had just enough wine to dull my doubts and ramp up my need for him. Before I could cross examine my intentions, I picked up my cell from my nightstand and sent out the bat signal.

It's late, my clock glowing twelve-forty-four, but Ranger immediately picked up as if he'd been expecting my call.

"Babe."

"Did I wake you?" My guilt made me ask.

I know he had taken on Woody's evening patrol for him so our Merry Man could attend his niece's second birthday party, but I wasn't exactly sure when he'd be home and if he'd be asleep by now.

"No. I was reading through the day's reports."

"But you're usually in the gym by five," I reminded him.

"And?" was his response.

I should know by now that, with him, work always comes before everything except his daughter and his family. I tried not to think about the fact that if he wants to come over, I'd be interrupting not only his current workload, but also his workout mere hours from now.

"So I'm disturbing you regardless of you being awake?" I said, testing the waters.

Being Ranger, he doesn't test the waters ... he does a freedive off of a super-high cliff into the roughest rapids available.

"Are you alright?" He asked instead of answered.

"Yeah. I just really wanted to see you and didn't feel like waiting until daylight."

"Are you naked and attached to a shower curtain rod?"

"Nope. I'm wearing the little pj's that you find so interesting whenever you catch sight of them. And I'm sitting in bed, not standing in the bathroom."

That gave him only a moment's pause. "Are you drunk?" was his follow-up question.

"No. I've only had half a glass of wine. So you could say I'm just really relaxed."

"I'm on my way," he told me.

"Good. You may want to ride the legal side of the speed limit, though. I could lose my nerve if you take too long."

"My timing has never been the issue."

No shit. My mind and my fears have been and we both know it. Thankfully, he didn't feel the need to point that out. He disconnected instead and I had ten minutes of nervous silence and plenty of questions for myself to get through before I barely heard the locks on my front door come undone just like I suspect I'm about to.

I've sat huddled in bed more times than I care to remember, in the dead of night, listening to someone break into my apartment and their footsteps head straight to my bedroom from the front door. Truth is, I'm no less nervous this time around even knowing who's only twenty-feet away from me now.

I watched my door handle move slowly downward ... and then there he is, his big body completely filling the doorway of my bedroom. He closed the door silently behind him without turning or taking his eyes off me.

"I thought I'd get here and find you sound asleep," he said, crossing the room to sit on the edge of the bed where my bare knee is sticking out from its crossed position.

He would think I chickened out and passed out, since it's happened a few times.

"Nope," I told him. "I'm still wide awake. I'm hoping you have some superhero sleep-trick that could help me out with that."

He kept up the stare. "You were looking for tea, a supplement, or ...?"

"The 'or'," I confessed. "I was just sitting here, looking at your sweatshirt and remembering everything else you've given me, from clothing to comfort, and it felt wrong that you weren't here with me tonight."

"For the next few hours until daylight?" He asked.

So we're back to the diving right into things again. "This can be the start of more if you want."

His big hand moved to rest curved around my kneecap. "What do you want, Stephanie?"

"Honestly?"

"Yes."

"I just want you right now. I thought we could figure everything else out later."

His fingers were already on the move, sliding gently up towards the inside of my thigh.

"How much later?" He pushed.

"How about tomorrow morning over bagels? Although it may seem like it, since I randomly called you well into midnight, I'm not interested in what Lula would say is a 'booty call'."

"And if I am?"

I sighed. "Then I'd kick myself hard, but I'd still have to say that I'm sorry to have bothered you. It recently occurred to me that I want everything I can get with you, one night isn't going to do it for me."

He nodded and then reached for me. "That's what I came over to hear."

I drew back. "Wait, what? You wanted me to turn you down?"

"Not exactly. I wanted you to admit to this being a beginning, not just an immediate need being satisfied."

I would've asked for a few more clarifications, but his lips were covering mine as his body moved to do the same to the rest of me. I'm too happy and turned on to complain about partial-suffocation via Ranger. I welcomed his weight, his taste, and how well he knows my body and its response to him.

I wrapped my arms around his neck to deepen the kiss, but I felt my lips frown under his as I came into contact with the fabric of his jacket. I allowed myself another beat or two of pleasure his lips and tongue provided, but as soon as we broke apart, I started tugging at the offending material. The utility belt I can feel against the insides of my thighs, needs to go too.

"If you take off your clothes," I whispered, my voice already getting huskier from just his kiss and being in such close proximity to him, "I'll ditch mine."

"Deal," he said, but he pressed a swift, hard kiss to my mouth before getting to his feet and getting undressed.

I reneged on my part of the deal. Watching each part of his body in motion is literally mesmerizing. If someone broke in, or the building suddenly caught fire, I wouldn't move or even notice until that body got closer and quickly carried me to safety. His jacket was hung on my door handle, his belt was tossed onto my chair, his cell landed next to mine, and then he started on the good stuff … working the laces on his boots free.

I was still coherent then, wondering what I should remove first ... my fluffy socks, tank top, or my little boxer shorts. But as soon as he peeled his T-shirt off his torso, my eyes widened, my mouth fell open, and everything below both began to hum in appreciation and a fair amount of impatience. He'd gone commando again, so in seconds he was back on the bed and noticing that I hadn't effectively gotten myself as bare as he now is.

"You're behind, Babe."

"Yeah, well, if you didn't have such a spectacular one ... I would've been able to do more than just look at it."

Apparently that was a good answer. "I'll let you do more than just look at me in a minute, but first things first."

He gave me a wolf grin, and then ditched my clothes for me. A win/win for all involved. When I was naked like he is, he eased me back down onto the mattress and got real serious about the kiss he assailed my senses with. His mouth didn't stay in one spot for long though. When he made it down my throat and collarbones to my breasts, his hands weren't left out of the play.

I was squirming before, during, and after, I saw stars ... even though he had my eyes rolling pretty far back in my head to notice any. It took me a minute to get my breath back, but when I did ... I realized that he's just getting started. He was already working my hormones into a second mind-altering state.

I pushed on his shoulders and tried to get him to let me flip him onto his back. He didn't budge, just continued to flick his tongue in time to and against the desperate beating of the pulse in my neck.

"You've had a long day," I gasped out when he increased pressure on a spot at the base of my throat that I'm betting will leave a very deliberate mark, "you can let me do all the work."

That's when he did move. He lifted his head and looked down at me. He was so close I could see a flicker of something I've never seen before in his eyes.

"Loving you will never be work, Babe."

Despite the insanity of that statement, because I am tons of work and require even more patience that that, he eventually let me take over and demonstrate exactly how easy it is to love him back.