JE owns the rights to anything familiar. All mistakes are mine.

I wrote this for sonomom who said, "I want a story where Ranger is pissed and Stephanie in a self-protective, defensive move gets angry back and they end up having angry sex that completely blows both their minds."

So for her and for the rest of the ladies of the TBDG, thanks - you inspire me!

He was ticked off at her, that much was clear. His fingers twisted around the steering wheel in such a tight grip his knuckles were turning white. He didn't speak, and when she dared to chance a glance at his face out of the corner of her eye, all she could see was the rhythmic clenching of his jaw. A big part of her wished he'd just yell and get it over with. Screaming she could deal with. Screaming she was used to. It's how she and Joe had always dealt with it when they had a fight, but Ranger?

Ranger simmered with a silent rage and the angrier he got the quieter he became.

Stephanie didn't know how to handle that, so taking her cue from him, she didn't say anything at all as he maneuvered his Cayenne through the streets of Trenton.

She almost launched a protest when he turned left at the next light instead of right because she wanted to go home and wash away all the soot and the terrible burnt hair smell from her nostrils, and left was not the way to her apartment.

Left meant he was taking her to Rangeman and that was the last place she wanted to be. Not only would she have to deal with Ranger, but there were probably more than a few Merry Men who might want to wring her neck as well. Woody's last sentence before she'd disconnected echoed in her head.

"Wait for Ranger, Steph. He's on his way."

Ranger remained mute as he entered the underground garage and so did Stephanie. She thought her best bet was to try and make a run for it when she got out of the car, hoping she'd reach the elevator ahead of him, but before she could even get her door all the way open he was in her personal space and extracting her from the vehicle with a solid hold on her upper arm.

Forgoing the stairs, he led her to the elevator and fobbed them past all her escape routes, directly to the seventh floor.

"What the hell were you thinking, Stephanie?" Ranger slammed the door to his apartment closed after dragging her over the threshold and threw his keys down so hard onto the antique sideboard that they skidded across the top and tumbled over the end onto the floor.

The noise seemed thunderous in the otherwise silence of the space and Stephanie flinched when they hit the ground. It was the first thing he'd said since he'd literally pulled her out of a burning building and she didn't know if he really wanted an answer or not so she kept her mouth shut and attempted to free her arm from the vice-like grip of his hand.

There was a slight narrowing of his eyes and she thought for a second he wouldn't let her go but then he released her so suddenly she nearly stumbled right into the wall. He flicked the switches that turned on all the lights and so she saw the icy glare he leveled at her with astounding clarity.

"I told you to wait for me," he continued in that ultra-low and controlled tone he utilized when he was very, very angry. She had only been a witness to his wrath on one other occasion and luckily it hadn't been directed at her at the time because Ranger was downright scary when he was pissed and right now...she was a little scared. In avoidance, she rubbed at her arm, certain she would have a bruise from the pressure of his fingers, and stared at the keys on the floor, wishing the tile would open up and swallow her whole.

"Look at me," he demanded. When she didn't comply, he grabbed her by the arm again, pulling her to him and wrenched her chin up with his other hand until their eyes met.

His brown depths were blazing with fire and she felt her own widen at the sheer force of the ire burning there. "Only an idiot would have gone into that building alone. Are you an idiot, Stephanie?"

Something snapped inside her brain at the apparent insult. Yes, she probably should have waited another ten minutes and yes, he'd told her not to go in without him but he'd been late, more than an hour, and her patience inevitably ran out. She'd watched her skip go in the building and not thirty minutes later, her Spidey Sense went into overdrive. And then there'd been the woman screaming bloody murder and she just knew she had to get in there.

She also knew she'd screwed up, but she wasn't an idiot and she hated the fact Ranger had called her one.

"You were late," she shot back, "and I followed protocol. I requested alternative backup from control before I breached the door and I called the police before I went in. Maybe the real question here should be where the hell were you?" Stephanie wrenched her jaw from his fingers and tried to dislodge her arm again but he held on, unwilling to release her a second time.

"Woody told you to wait for me, Lester told you. I told you."

He was starting to sound like a broken record and she didn't miss the fact he'd ignored her question, bolstering her own growing anger. "Yeah, you tell me a lot of things. 'Do this, don't do that. All you ever do is tell me what to do. Have you thought about maybe asking every once in a while? I heard a woman yelling for help, Ranger. Are you gonna stand there and insist you wouldn't have gone into that building? I know you, there's no way in hell you would have waited. What's so different about me doing the same thing?"

"You're wrong. I would have waited for backup. Don't ever do that again. Don't you ever fucking do that again."

He hardly ever swore and the use of it now made her even angrier. She ripped her arm from his grip and put some much need distance between them. "You fucking liar," she spit out, throwing the curse back in his face. Ranger's eyes flashed and he stalked toward her with a determination that made her retreat through the archway into the living room. She backed right into the end table next to the plush and comfy armchair, sending the lamp on top of it crashing to the floor. The light bulb shattered, plunging half the room into darkness and all she could see was the shadow of him advancing on her as her eyes adjusted to the lack of light.

"What if I hadn't got to you in time? What if you'd been blown to smithereens along with the FTA you'd been so hell-bent on capturing that you couldn't wait ten more fucking minutes?" He'd forced her all the way across the room and her back hit the wall next to the TV just as he added one more question. "What if I'd lost you?"

He pressed his body against hers, pinning her to the wall. He was breathing hard, they both were, as if they'd just run a sprint and couldn't get enough air into their lungs.

"You scared the shit out of me. Don't ever do anything like that again."

His mouth crashed down on hers with an almost inhuman brutality but Stephanie found herself kissing him back with equal ferocity. Everything poured out with their rough mating of lips and tongues. Anger. Need. Frustration. Each negative emotion fueled their passion, fed their urgency.

Ranger abruptly wrenched their mouths apart and took a step back but only to yank her black Rangeman t-shirt over her head. Her bra was next. He didn't take the time to unfasten the front clasp; instead he ripped it open and dragged it off her arms. Her pants and boots followed and she didn't remain idle when he started tearing off his own clothes. Desperate to feel him inside her, she clawed at the button holding his pants closed, scraping his skin with her nails until the material gave way.

He took her right there, up against the wall. Raw and angry and still dirty from the fire he surged into her with one powerful thrust. Pinning her arms over her head with one hand and using the other to support her weight, he dove deeper, pumping his hips hard and fast until she dug her heels into the small of his back and a gasping sob burst from her lungs as she clenched around him in a shattering release.

"Christ, Babe," Ranger managed in a strangled voice just before his body convulsed and he came with a throbbing force, pulsing inside her.

After, he released her wrists and buried his face in her neck, kissing her there while she wrapped her arms around his back and held him close until their labored breaths returned to a normal cadence.

Stephanie was completed drained after such an emotional outpouring. And that is what it was. He'd been angry, yes, and so had she but she understood. She finally understood what was going on, what had been growing and evolving between them for such a long time she was surprised something like this hadn't happened before now.

"Did I hurt you," Ranger asked softly, in between feather-light brushes of his lips along her throat.

"No," she replied and slid her fingers into the damp hair at the nape of his neck. She tugged gently, tilting his head back so she could see his face.

"I'm sorry," he said when they were eye to eye. "I didn't mean to...I didn't want..."

"Don't." She cut off his apology with a finger to his lips. "I get it. I...it's the same for me, Ranger. The thought of something happening to you just...it rips me apart. I'll wait next time. I'll wait for you forever."

He inhaled a slow breath and cupped her cheek in his palm, gently gliding his thumb along the delicate skin under her eye. "Me too, Steph. Always." And then he leaned in and kissed her so softly, so sweetly she thought she might shatter all over again.