A/N: I own nothing; all credit goes to Janet Evanovich.

This is a Babe Christmas story, with a chapter a day. Hope you like it! - Samantha

He should've known that she would take this seriously.

She asked months ago and she never did things halfway and this sort of thing was right up her alley and…and she was Stephanie.

He should've known.

She asked before Halloween, which should've been the first clue. Halloween was Steph's favorite holiday, far surpassing Thanksgiving and Christmas, regardless of how much food they had to offer. Yet she had come to him in the middle of October and asked if he would mind if she did a little office decorating for Christmas.

He didn't say yes right away, and even when he did, there were still stipulations. But she had begged and cajoled and when had he denied her something, anyway? So with a few rules ("guidelines," she would say), Stephanie was in control of office cheer at Rangeman Inc.

Even his rules were more lenient than he would have preferred. She had turned out to be one hell of a negotiator, despie his more intimidating tactics. He was only firm on a couple of things: no tinsel (Ella hated cleaning that up, he knew), everything had to be up to fire codes (he got an eye roll at that one, but with Steph, you can't be too careful), and nothing could detract from the workplace environment. He didn't want animatronic reindeer in every corner. He wanted it to still hold the illusion of being a professional building, regardless of if he was now being bossed around by a little waif of a Jersey girl.

He asked her why she was getting approval so early, and she had said she wanted to be sure she could budget it out. In retrospect, he felt a little bad about barking out a laugh.

"Babe, I'll give you a budget. Rangeman does have money put aside for these sorts of things."

Her face clouded and her smile looked tense and forced.

"Like your entertainment budget?"

He knew he had stepped in it. Stephanie didn't let many things get under her skin, but he knew she had been carrying around a few comments he had made for years now. The "entertainment budget" comment that he had made as a teasing remark in regards to her years ago was one of them. He didn't know how to clarify it now, but he didn't want her to dwell over it any longer.

"It's not just an entertainment budget," he told her. "It's a 'morale' budget. It's a 'make my team happy' budget. It's a 'make me happy' budget. Usually you accomplish this with very little money. I'm willing to give you more."

"How much more?"

And there it was. He could see the seriousness of the question behind her eyes. She wasn't just asking about a budget, she was asking about them. And he didn't know what to say. He wanted to give her so much more. Everything. He just didn't know how, not yet. She saw the desire written on his face, the longing. She reveled in it for a moment. He wasn't just lusting for her body, he was lusting for her.

She took it in for another few moments before giving him an out. If he wasn't ready now, then maybe he would be by the end of December.

"I'll use that budget for the Christmas party!" She flashed him a huge grin before sidling away, leaving him standing there with his almost-smile in place. That woman.

And now, as he watched the monitors in his apartment's office, he was marveling at her all over again, not needing to shield his desire from the computer.

It was late – almost 10:30 – and she was downstairs on the fifth floor playing elf. It wasn't what he had expected, either. Instead of a large, ostentatious tree in the middle of the break room, there was a small two foot tall tree in the center of the large table, with tiny lights shining. No animatronic reindeer hiding anywhere, but instead, lining the tops of all the cubicles was garland and lights. It looked festive and elegant, all at the same time. She placed a ribbon around the plaque of Rangeman Inc's core values, and a few other bows adorned the walls. He hoped he wasn't imagining it, but it was looking pretty nice.

Just when he thought she was done, she went to her own cubicle (Ranger was trying desperately to keep track of her on all the varying monitor angles, so he never lost sight) and pulled a big plastic bag out. It was large, but clearly not heavy as she hoisted it on her shoulder and made it all the way down to the beginning edge of cubicles.

He watched her meticulously hang a stocking outside every Rangeman employee's cubicle and office. They all had writing on them and he had no doubt that she had handwritten their names on them as well. She came to his office finally – last, but not least – and he watched her carefully position an adhesive hook to the center of his door. His stocking looked to be a different shade of gray on the monitors, so he wondered what color his was, or if his camera's resolutions were just playing tricks on his eyes. She pulled out the traditional fare she had been placing in everyone's stockings (granola bars and Gatorade, as per his request that she not bring too much processed sugar into his company, regardless of the season) and then she held an envelope in her hands.

She looked at it for a moment before letting a small smile grace her face. Ranger felt himself smiling in return, just at the sight of her looking so happy and content. When no one could see him, he did become quite soft, he realized. Stephanie lifted the envelope to her lips and placed a light kiss on it, her eyes fluttering shut as she did, before tucking it into his stocking. She turned around, gathered up her supplies, and began to head out, a new bounce in her step.

He watched unrepentantly as she said goodbye to the guys on the monitors, who looked excited to check out their own stockings. He let out a little laugh when he saw her shake her head firmly and point at the monitors, as if to remind them of what their job really was. He didn't have the audio on, but he could still hear her lilting laughter in his head.

She took one last look at the floor before leaving, taking in all of her hard work. He glanced at the clock – almost midnight. Wow. She had been at it for a while. He was impressed, because it was mostly physical work. He had watched her for almost two hours crawl around on top of and under desks, plugging things in, positioning them just right. She was incredible.

He knew he was going to have to get up soon, and it was only that knowledge that kept him from going downstairs that instant and reading whatever note she had placed in his stocking. He could wait. He had the patience of a saint. He had outlasted terrorists and would-be bombers for days on end. He could manage to wait 5 hours before getting up and going to work. Maybe.

Tomorrow was December 1st, a Saturday. His last thoughts before he drifted off to sleep were that he hoped Stephanie would make an appearance in his life tomorrow, if not at the office, then somewhere else.