Chapter 6: He Gets Caught

I'm awake well before dawn, as usual, but I let myself stay in bed holding Stephanie for a while longer. Eventually, however, I do have to get showered, dressed, and downstairs for work. Companies don't just run themselves.

She's still asleep when I finish getting ready, so I quietly slip out the door and take the elevator down to the control room. I can have Ella bring me breakfast in my office and send some up for Stephanie when she wakes up.

Tank is waiting not far from the elevator. He looks almost nervous.

"Morning," I say as I start to move around him.

He steps to the side to block my path. "We need to talk," he says, his voice betraying none of the apprehension I see in his eyes.

I cock an eyebrow at him, but nod and lead the way to my office. When the door is firmly shut behind us, I motion for him to take a seat. He doesn't.

"Ranger, I know I don't usually ask questions about your personal life, but you know how much the men here care for you… and Stephanie," he begins.

Ah. I understand now, but I let him continue anyway.

"You might not know because I told everyone to keep it to themselves, but most of the men were pretty shaken when you gave us orders not to let Stephanie in the building. Now all of the sudden, not three days later, you call mission control to get a fix on her, then carry her up to your room unconscious. You have to admit, it's all very strange, and I'm sorry if I'm out of line, but we all think we're owed an explanation."

That makes me smile, just a little. Of course it seems strange. It was strange. Stephanie's had nearly unlimited access to me and this building ever since she discovered it existed. I also understand Tank's nervous tension. Most of us here have a military background, and you don't ask questions in the military, especially not of your commanding officer, and never anything so personal.

But this isn't the military. Tank's right. I do owe them an explanation. Best to just get it out there.

"I asked Stephanie to marry me last night." I continue to give him a brief summary of everything that had happened: Morelli's proposal, her acceptance, and, eventually, her change of mind.

Slowly, throughout my explanation, he start to grin. By the end, I think the only bigger grin in the world had been mine last night, when Stephanie said yes. "My God, Ranger! You finally manned up and did it!"

I allowed myself a small smile in return, but this was still a work day, and we were both on company hours right now. "Sure. Do me a favor and don't tell the others yet. I'm sure Stephanie's going to want to tell them herself."

He nodded. "Yes, sir. I'll think of something to keep them off your backs until then."

Catching the unspoken memo, he promptly left my office and returned to his post in the control room, leaving me to handle today's paperwork, phone calls, and meetings.

Stephanie came into my office about an hour or two later. I glanced at the clock: 10:45.

"Sleep well?" I ask her with a smirk.

"Your sheets are too soft. It's a crime to leave them as early as you do."

I laugh as I stand up and take her in my arms, bringing our lips together. I've never been more grateful for my decision to install opaque glass in my office door than I am now. The men would be falling out of their chairs if they caught a glimpse of this.

Our initially soft greeting kiss slowly gets more and more intense. Eventually, Steph is gasping for air, sitting on the edge of my desk with her legs wrapped around me and her fingers pulling on my tshirt.

"I would say let's take this upstairs, but we'd have to pass the Merry Men to do that," she states.

"Not a problem," I mumble against her jawline. I reach behind her and sweep nearly everything off my desk. Her face turns a deep red and she glances at the door. The glass is hazy, but she can still see shapes and movement on the other side. I smile devilishly and reach behind me to press a button on a medium sized panel of them on the wall. The glass immediately turns completely white, and she gasps. I grin again as I lean over her, picking up where we left off.

After I've left her thoroughly satisfied, I sit down and pull her into my lap. I'm barely out of breath, but Stephanie's glowing with perspiration and struggles to take in enough air. She gave up on trying to get in shape with me a long time ago. Something tells me that she just found a new form of exercise that she enjoys and can participate in regularly.

Once she's recovered and we both look presentable again, she glances back at the door for the first time since I changed the opacity. I can tell she's thinking about what to say to the men who, hopefully, didn't hear our workout just now.

"I already told Tank. He's noticed I've been a little… off recently, and wanted to make sure we were both ok."

She smiled. "That's so sweet of him. Good thing he won't have to worry about us anymore." Her smile turned down into a frown. "I'm sorry agina about how I handled the situation. I see now how much I must have hurt you. I honestly didn't know you cared so mu-"

I press my finger to her lips, and she falls silent. "That doesn't matter anymore. Just pretend it never even happened. I don't want anything from our past getting in the way of our future."

She sighs. "I have a feeling that's going to be easier said than done. Morelli left me at least a dozen voicemails last night. Then there's my parents, your family, the girls at the office…"

"Babe, I think the girls at the office are going to be the last people we need to worry about. The worst they can do is give us a headache with their excited squeals." I make it sound like I'm less worried about that than I actually am, because I know she'll enjoy that interaction. I won't.

She doesn't look convinced.

I kiss the top of her head. "Tell you what," I offer. "Let's call and tell your parents today and set up dinner with them. I'll call my family tonight, too, and see how soon they can get everyone under the same roof. You can tell the girls whenever you feel ready, and same for the guys here. Or I can tell the men, if you'd rather me do it."

She thinks about it for a moment. "You tell them, but I want to be there when you do. I also want to tell both of our families first. I'll have to tell the girls soon, though. They're more observant than the Merry Men, and I don't want to have to take this ring off to go pick up my new FTAs."

I grin at her. "Sounds like a plan."

A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long to publish. My husband got home on Friday, and we left Saturday morning to go see his sister and her family across the country. She lives in New England, and for anyone not up-to-date on New England weather right now, we're about to experience a rather sudden and out-of-the-blue blizzard, so I may or may not have power starting on Tuesday. We're still deciding if we're going to stay and ride out the storm or leave tomorrow afternoon to flee south where there won't be quite as much snow and there'd be no reason why he wouldn't be able to get back home and to work on time. That'll only give us a day to spend with his sister and her wife and 10-month-old, freaking adorable daughter, so I'm not to excited about that plan, but I'm also not overjoyed for my first encounter with snow to be a blizzard that's going to dump two feet of it down on top of us in less than 24 hours (we're from the South, where entire states shut down if there's even a whisper of a snowflake). If you're of the praying variety, please send some our way. Either way, please don't get mad if another few days go by before I'm able to publish the next chapter. Sorry in advance, and thanks for reading and leaving all these wonderful reviews!