**********Warning, Warning, Warning, Warning***********

AN: This story is sexually explicit and is not for those under the age of 18!!!! There will be M/F/M, F/F, and M/M relationships in this story. As usual, don't own it and not making any money from it. This is a Babe story and if extreme sexual content offends you or you're a Cupcake, then please don't read this story.

"Restricted Membership"

Chapter One

"The Schedule"

Six months. He was right on schedule. Tonight was the night he was going to ask her to move in with him permanently. He knew how she was with commitment. She was leery and had every right to be. He certainly hadn't given her any reason to think he wanted anything permanent in the past.

All that had changed the night Stephanie and Joe had called it quits for good. From what he'd learned from his sources, Joe had wanted Stephanie to pack it all in and move with him to D.C. He'd gotten a big job there; he wanted her to move up there with him and take on the role of wife. He wanted to get married and start a family and….wait for it….stop bounty hunting, sever all ties with me, Lula, Connie and the Merry Men.

She'd balked and big time. He wasn't quite sure that she wouldn't do the same when he asked the big question. He rationalized that things were different between them than they'd been between her and Joe. First of all, he didn't want to tie her down; he just wanted to be tied to her.

When she'd finally broken it off with the cop, he started his plan. Month one, he started hanging out with her more. Calling her, just to say hi and see how her day had been. Month two, he started asking her to go out for dinner and dancing.

Month three, oh yeah, that'd been great. He'd taken her to what she calls the 'Batcave' and made love to her for the first time. When they'd been together after the Dechooch deal, it had been sex. Not anymore, though. Now they made love, and often, especially after he'd convinced her to cut down on the sweets. Holy Hell, she was a wildcat in bed.

Since then, he'd been slowly including her in his life, and she had all but moved in. She still kept the lease on her apartment, but she almost never spent the night there. Tonight, he was going to ask her to give up that last shred of their separate existence.

She'd gone to New York for some shopping with Mary Lou, and wouldn't be back until close to dinner time. He'd already planned the candle lit dinner with Ella, and couldn't wait for her to get home. She'd called about an hour ago to say she was on the way home.

Yeah, she'd called it home, and that had given him hope. Hope that she would say yes and that he could move on to 'operation proposal'. He had everything planned down to month twelve, when he planned to ask her to elope with him. He hoped that she didn't harbor a desire for a long engagement and big wedding.

Oh, sure, he'd do it if she really wanted it. Somehow, though, he didn't think she would be any more thrilled than he was with the hoopla that went along with a traditional wedding.

The phone ringing broke his meanderings and he looked at the caller ID. Jax. He hadn't heard from him or Synthia for some time. He smiled as he thought about his old friend and his wife. Their lifestyle was definitely different.

He answered the phone and found that life couldn't always be put on a chart and mapped out.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Giddy from her time with Mary Lou, she thought how fortunate she was to have her for her best friend. Grampa Mazur had always told her that a best friend is like a four leaf clover: hard to find and lucky to have. That definitely described how she felt about Mary Lou.

She waved at the camera as she got out of her new car. No more POS cars for her. She now owned a brand new, candy apple red Mustang convertible. She and Mary Lou had had a blast on their road trip with the top down. Mary Lou insisted on calling tomorrow to personally thank Ranger for making me take the car.

At first, she'd been leery of taking a car from him. However, he'd insisted that it didn't matter if she broke the damn thing. He'd made her heart swoon when he insisted that his woman should be driving something better than the broken down lemons she'd owned in the past.

The elevator was too slow, so she took the stairs. Wouldn't Ranger be proud? She couldn't wait to see him and show him her purchases. She'd bought something especially for him. It was red, lacy, and looked great on her. He was going to probably rip it to shreds like he had her last two lingerie purchases, but that was the fun of it.

She opened the door and immediately went on alert. Something was wrong. Very wrong. There weren't any light on in the apartment. It was dark, and yet, she could feel Ranger's presence in the room.

His shadowy form was silhouetted by the lights of Trenton that glowed outside the window. Ranger was facing the window, his shoulders rigid and a snifter of brandy in his hand. It didn't look as though he'd taken a drink from it.

She could tell from his stance and the set of his shoulders that something was terribly wrong, and she started to shake a little inside. What if he was breaking things off with her? What would she do? Her heart wouldn't survive that. It would surely break in two, and she would be just a shell. He was her life, and she couldn't bear the thought of living without him.

Stephanie quietly laid her purse by the door and stiffened her spine. She knew that he was aware of her presence, but she walked quietly towards him. When she was about a foot away, she stopped. She started to reach out to him, but felt as though she was invading his private thoughts.

Finally, she got up her nerve. "Ranger?"

He turned, and what she saw in his expression confirmed her suspicions that something was horribly wrong. She saw immense sorry and a bit of regret.

Ranger looked at the beauty before him and felt weary to the bone. She always felt his moods and emotions almost before he acknowledged them himself. He could see from her frightened expression that this time was no different. He set down the untouched brandy and pulled her into his embrace.

He'd hold her before he had to tell her. That much he wasn't giving up. He soothed her as best as he could, stroking down her hair and back.

"Did you and Mary Lou have a good trip?" He was going for normal, because in the next few hours, nothing he told her was going to fit into her 'Burg' world.

"Yeah, we shopped till we dropped. Mary Lou's going to call tomorrow and thank you on my behalf for the car. She said it made her feel like a teenager again, riding with the top down, the wind ripping through our hair."

If he wanted to act like nothing was wrong, she'd play along for now. Wrapped safe and secure in his arms, she felt some relief. She knew she wasn't going to like what he had to tell her, but for some reason, she also knew that he wasn't letting her go. If the death grip he had on her was any indication, it was more than likely he was going to need her strength.

After what felt like hours, but was really only a few minutes, she finally broke the silent vigil they seemed to holding. "What's wrong?"

"Shhh, just a few more minutes. I just want to hold you a few more minutes." He felt her nod against his chest. This was going to be hard for him, for sure. But for her, what he had to tell her was going to be a test of the love she felt for him.

When he felt her relax, he decided that he couldn't wait any longer. "Babe-"

Before he could begin, she shook her head. "Ranger, if you've got something bad to tell me, I want to be comfortable. Let's go to the bedroom. I want to change into something more comfortable."

She knew she was stalling the inevitable, but knew she couldn't handle whatever it was standing here in the ominous darkness. They walked arm and arm into the bedroom, neither wanting to lose the contact before it was necessary.

Ranger was afraid to lose the contact. He was sure that once he told her, she'd never want him to hold her again. What would she say when she found out about his wayward lifestyle? How would she handle what he had to do? And it was certain that he had to do this.

Jax had saved his life, not once, but twice. He owed him that much. However much it pained him, he would help his friend. If he thought it would help, he'd go down to the gym and beat the stuffing out of a punching bag. No, that definitely wouldn't help. He was afraid he was about to lose the best thing in his life. Beating himself might help, but not a punching bag.

He listened to the sounds of her changing clothes as he removed his shoes and belt, then untucked his shirt. Then he sat down on the end of the bed and waited.

She watched him while she changed. He acted like he was walking towards the last mile of a death sentence. He scrubbed his face as he sat down on the bed. When she'd changed into a t-shirt and some sleep pants, she crawled to the middle of the bed behind him.

She rubbed his back and then up to his shoulders. Ranger caught her hands and brought them both around to press kisses to each.

He wanted to hold onto that contact for as long as he could, because he knew she was about to withdraw from him. He knew it was selfish, but he couldn't help himself. He'd come to not only want her presence in his life, but to depend on it. When she withdrew from him, it was going to kill him.

He took a deep breath and began his tale.