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

This was inspired loosely by the song, 'All of Me' by John Legend.

Thank you LilyGhost for all your help with the title and summary.

Stephanie was being quiet. Too quiet. Usually she filled the void with insane stories about her family or Lula, or with multiple sarcastic comments about anything and everything, but not now. She wasn't talking at all and the silence was starting to get to me. I loved that smart mouth and right now I missed it.

Right now I needed it.

"You okay, Babe?" I reached across the space between us and took her hand in mine. She turned her head from the passenger side window and met my gaze. Her big blue eyes were filled with unshed tears and my heart constricted at the sight. Seeing her cry cuts me right to the quick.

"I should be asking you that," she murmured and squeezed my fingers gently with hers.

"I'm fine." The response was one I'd been automatically saying all day and while most people took it at face value, Stephanie wasn't most people.

"Right," she said with a small eye roll and a single tear escaped, running down her cheek. "And Lula's just big-boned. Want to try again?"

There was that mouth I was missing. I felt a smile starting and released her hand so I could touch her face. She tilted her cheek into my palm and closed her eyes and I would give anything to not be driving so I could hold her. "I've had better days," I admitted and once again laced our fingers together.

Stephanie snorted out a small laugh and the sound was a balm to my tattered heart. "Did you take a class to learn to be that forthcoming or is it just ingrained in your DNA?"

The smile that hadn't quite formed before tilted my lips up at the corners. This is the part of her I think I love the most. She's not afraid to call me out on my bullshit and there isn't anyone who can make me smile or laugh as much as the woman sitting beside me.

"Must be a God-given talent."

She returned my small grin with one of her own and a slightly raised eyebrow. "One among many."

We fell into silence again and the emotionally weighted atmosphere, which had briefly dissipated with that moment of levity, returned to the car as I navigated the roads back to Trenton.

"I wish I'd met her," Stephanie said softly as we crossed into the city limits and I raised our joined hands to my lips, brushing a soft kiss over her knuckles.

I wished that too. I think given enough time and resources, she and my Grandmother could have taken over the world.

"She would have loved you." I had wanted them to meet, but Steph and I were still navigating the waters of the newly elevated status of our relationship and I didn't want to scare her off by bombarding her with my large extended family.

Of course, having her meet them all at a funeral was less than ideal, but those were the cards we were dealt and she went through the full gamut of my relatives today. There were even cousins I hadn't seen in years who flew in from Miami.

"You say that about everyone but you're the only one crazy enough to actually love me."

God, did I ever. Maybe I was crazy; half the time she had me spinning, trying to keep up with whatever was going on inside that beautiful head. I nearly rolled my eyes when I realized the thought was a lyric from that sappy song she loved. The one she'd stealthily added four different times to my playlist.

And she was wrong about who loved her. There was a whole building of men who would walk through fire for her without a single question.

"I've been called worse. And you make it pretty easy, Babe." And that was the truth. I'd fallen for her hard and fast from the first day we met. Unfortunately it took both of us a lot longer than was probably normal to be ready for any kind of commitment but now that we'd figured it out - for the most part anyway - I really didn't know how I'd spent the better part of my thirty plus years without her by my side.

Her gaze found mine in the dim light emanating from the dash. She didn't have to say it because I could see it all in her eyes but she did anyway. "I love you too, you know?"

The sudden rush of emotion took me by surprise and I turned at the next light, using it as a distraction until I thought I could answer her without my voice breaking.

"Yeah, I do know."

"And do you also know what we need right now?" She added, throwing me off a little. With Steph, there could be a hundred different things but all I needed was her.

"I can only imagine."

"Ice cream."

For the first time in what felt like weeks, I laughed out loud. "I'm pretty confident no one needs ice cream, Stephanie."

"That's where you're wrong. There have been many studies done on the effects of ice cream on a person's mood."

"And who conducted these studies?" I wanted to know as I headed for the convenience store on 5th. It would be the only place open this late that sold ice cream.

"Well, mostly me and Lula, but that doesn't matter. The results were all conclusive and I'm telling you, we need ice cream. Can we stop at Circle K?"

She hadn't been paying attention to her surroundings so didn't notice I'd just pulled into the parking lot. I pointed out the window and her eyes followed the line of my finger. "Do you also know how annoying you are?"

"Yes, I know that too." I retrieved my money clip from my pocket and peeled off a twenty for her. "Get some mint chocolate chip to go along with your rocky road."

I knew she was surprised, it was a rarity for me to indulge with sweets, but she only hiked her eyebrows at my request and took the money as she pulled the handle to open the car door. "You think you know me so well but I have to inform you, this is a chunky monkey situation, not rocky road."

"I stand corrected," I told her as she closed the door, knowing she'd come back with rocky road and chunky monkey in the bag.

I kept the engine running and watched her walk into the store, thinking I'd be indulging in more than dessert before the night was over. Ice cream never had any effect on my mood, but Stephanie did. Always.

It didn't matter how adept I was at hiding my emotions, she had learned pretty quickly what I projected wasn't always what was going on. Stephanie alone had the ability to see through my walls and right now, she knew my Grandmother's death was pressing heavy on my soul. In her own unique way, she was helping me carry that weight and maybe normal people would talk about their feelings and cry and get it all out, but neither Steph nor I were all that normal. We would eat ice cream, out of a bowl or off each other's skin, and who would ever protest that kind of distraction? I welcomed it and I needed it. I needed her, all of her. The good and the bad, I loved all of it. All her curves and especially all her edges…shit. It was that infernal song again.

This time I did roll my eyes but found myself scrolling through the songs on the iPod attached to the sound system. I hit play and felt a smile begin again as John Legend's smooth voice filled the car.

I was a lucky man - lucky she'd finally given me what it took me way too long to realize was missing from my life.

I checked my phone while I listened and waited, making sure nothing urgent needed my attention. I knew Tank was handling everything with the business but it was in my nature to maintain control, even from a distance. My second in command understood that about me, yet gleefully reveled in giving me shit for it. I sent him a quick text letting him know we were back in town and would be back in the building shortly.

Something flashed in my peripheral vision and it brought my head around quickly, as did the sudden cold dread that slid down my spine in a slow glide. I dropped the phone onto the passenger seat and focused my attention on every inch of the surrounding area.

A painfully skinny man in a stained white t-shirt and worn jeans, being held up only by a belt as he had no hips or buttocks to speak of, was advancing up the narrow sidewalk that ran the length of the building. His hair was a dark, dirty blonde that hung in limp strands around his face and neck and appeared as if it hadn't been washed in weeks. He was moving at a quick pace towards the entrance of the store and the twitching of his hands and shoulders and the bulge I saw in the left pocket of his pants had me on complete alert and reaching for the handle of the door.

My feet hit the pavement without a sound and I made sure to close the door of the car just as quietly. I moved into the shadows along the edge of the store, following the same path the man had taken. When I reached the door, I had my gun in my hand and pulled it open as I slipped through the threshold.

Time stopped in the next moment as the glass door swung closed behind me. All the blood froze in my veins and my heart ceased its endless beating beneath my ribs. I felt myself blink once, twice, and then my Sig was trained on the man holding a knife to Stephanie's throat.

He turned at what I'm sure was a normal speed but for me everything was happening in slow motion. His hair whipped around, slapping oily strands against his cheek that clung there even as the grip of his arm tightened around her neck. I watched her try to inhale a breath before he restricted the airway so I took one as if willing her to breathe through me.

The man was saying something, I saw his lips moving, saw the blown pupils, the sweat pouring off his brow but only the slow beading of blood at the point of the blade held my focus. It was bright against the pale skin of Stephanie's throat and made bile rise into mine.

Her blue, blue eyes were wide with fear but focused on mine. She wasn't panicking, she wasn't struggling, she wasn't crying. She was waiting – for me.

The clerk behind the counter had his hands in the air and his eyes were bouncing between me and the drug addict who chose the wrong store to try and rob. The fact he was holding my entire life beneath the blade of a knife meant his would be ending tonight. There was no other option. I knew it, Steph knew it, and even the cashier knew.

I wasn't sure the man about to die knew anything except how much he needed his next fix. He said something else, something about money right before he dragged the knife towards me. I squeezed the trigger and was already in motion as the bullet struck his Adam's apple.

Stephanie reached for me as the knife clattered to the floor. The man's hands went his throat but it was too late and he was falling. I wrapped an arm around Steph's shoulder and brought my other hand to her neck, pressing against the blood seeping from the cut while I lowered her to the ground.

The clerk was already calling 911 before I barked out the order.

"You're okay," I insisted. "Everything is okay." I think I was assuring myself more than her and could only hope I was right. If I lost her I would lose myself and probably leave a path of destruction in my wake.

Stephanie's eyes were glued to mine and her face was deadly serious when she said, "Listen, in case I die, I just want you to know you were right; rocky road was the way to go."

Her ability to joke in the worst of circumstances was another on the growing list of reasons why I loved her.

I used the hand that wasn't staunching the flow of blood to brush a stray strand of hair from her cheek. "I appreciate the acknowledgement, but you aren't going to die; I won't allow it."

She grinned at me and then clutched onto my bicep. "So freaking bossy." The smile fell from her lips as quickly as it had arrived. "I don't want to go to the hospital, Ranger."

"I know, Babe, but you might not have a choice."

"Can Bobby or Zip come? Please?" Her voice broke on the last word, twisting my heart inside my chest. There wasn't anything I would deny her but I'd left my phone in the car. The clerk offered his and I dialed the control room, giving the order to send whomever they reached first.

Stephanie was giving me her grateful eyes as the clerk retrieved his phone and then handed me a couple of clean white towels. "I have more," he said, "if you need them."

I thanked him and removed my hand, immediately replacing it with a towel. I'm no expert, but felt it was a good sign nothing gushed out the second the pressure had been released.

"How bad is it?" She asked quietly.

"I don't know," I responded truthfully, "but since you are alert and talking, probably not as bad as it looks. Do you feel faint or weak? Dizzy?"

She thought about it for a beat before responding. "No. It stings a little, but that's it." She cut her eyes to the man bleeding out on the floor. "Is he...is he dead?" Her serious gaze found mine again and demanded nothing but the truth.

When we'd made our relationship official, we promised to always be honest with each other, even if it hurt. No lies, no half-truths, no hiding or trying to protect each other from the bad stuff. She'd already called me out on that when I tried to do it in the car so if I wanted to keep my testicles where there were, I knew not to attempt it again.

"Yes."

She pressed her lips together in a tight line and nodded once, accepting what couldn't be changed. When her eyes filled with tears, I brushed a kiss across her mouth. "What a time to kiss me," she chided softly. "Covered in blood and crying like a little girl."

I kissed her again, just because I could. "How does the song go? 'Even when you're crying you're beautiful too'…"

The smile that followed lit up her whole face. "You listened to it!"

"It was hard not to when you put in on my iPod a dozen times."

"Only four," she countered quickly. "It's us…that song. It's us." She squeezed my arm again and I concurred readily. And it will be the first song we dance to when I eventually get her to agree to marry me. But the proposal would have to wait. The sound of sirens was growing steadily closer.

Stephanie groaned. "I hope it's not Morelli. He'll bitch about how I can't seem to stop stumbling into trouble."

I didn't understand why she felt the need to maintain a friendship with the cop who never did anything but discourage her from being who she really was. I tolerated his presence in her life but if he said one derogatory word, I'd make sure it'd be the last thing he ever utters.

"You can't kill Joe, Ranger," she murmured just as Robin Russell came through the door with her gun drawn.

"Well, not tonight," I replied. Robin and her partner, Big Dog, started in with the questions immediately but didn't get far as Hector and Zip entered the building with two paramedics on their heels.

There were some tense words exchanged, mostly by me, before my men were allowed access to Stephanie. I could see the worry on both their faces, but Hector in particular was on the verge of losing it. He and Steph were very close and he would probably be as inconsolable as I would if anything happened to her.

His dark, whiskey eyes were filled with unease as Zip knelt on the other side of Stephanie.

"You two look hot," She observed. "Were you out dancing?" I cut a quick glance to their attire. The men were definitely not dressed in the official Rangeman uniform but how she determined where they'd been was beyond my comprehension. "I love that shirt on you, Hec; the brown does amazing things to your eyes."

Zip grinned and Hector crouched at her feet, laying a hand on her ankle. "Thank you, Chica. And yes, we were at The Manor, but it was too crowded so we thought we'd see what you are up to. Nothing good, apparently."

"I just wanted ice cream," Steph told him with a little pout.

"That's sounds good," Hector replied, distracting her while Zip opened his medical kit and donned a pair of latex gloves. "Rocky Road?"

"Let me see," Zip requested of me softly, gesturing to the hand I'd not removed from her neck. I lifted the towel and held my breath while he inspected the wound.

I tuned out Robin as she questioned the clerk and the medics dealing with the body on the floor and the inane conversation Hector had initiated and focused on Zip's face. He gave nothing away as he wiped away blood with an alcohol pad.

"Just a few stitches," he finally said, nearly under his breath.

"You're sure?" I questioned.

"Yes. Everything major was missed, barely, but missed."

I couldn't stop the exhaled breath of relief. "Can you do it here?"

"Yes, I have everything I need but it should be numbed first, which means a needle."

Stephanie hated needles and everyone knew it.

"I can hear you, you know," she interrupted just as I was about to respond to Zip. "If it means I don't have to go to the hospital, just do it, Zip."

"Yes sir!" He snapped out at her command and added a salute, making all of us laugh.

"Now who is being bossy?" I teased. I saw the needle come out of Zip's kit and used the diversion that worked best on her in any situation. I covered her mouth with mine and kissed her until he was done. She didn't even flinch when the needle went in.

He worked quickly as soon as she said she couldn't feel anything anymore and twelve stitches later, he deemed her good as new. "Use some vitamin E on it to minimize the scarring and see Bobby first thing in the morning for antibiotics, just in case. They can probably come out in a few days, but keep a bandage on it until then. "

"Thank you, Zip." She touched his cheek briefly and then set her eyes on Hector. "Sorry I ruined your night."

Anger flashed for a second before he cleared it from his face. "You know you didn't ruin anything. We're just glad you're okay."

They left right after that, and Steph was smiling as she watched them walk out. Hector was guiding Zip with his hand at the small of Zip's back. I often did that with her. "They're so cute together," she mused, turning back to my face.

"I'll take your word for it."

Stephanie rolled her eyes just as Big Dog ambled over to us. "Gonna need your statements," he said, getting out his notebook.

It was close to an hour later before we were released. Robin informed me there may be further questions regarding my actions but for now we were free to go. Right then I didn't care. All I wanted was to get Stephanie home and maybe never let her out of my sight again.

I helped her into the car and placed the bag the clerk gave us into the back seat before sliding behind the wheel.

"Jeez," Steph mumbled, eyeing the bag. "How much ice cream did he give us?"

"I think everything they had left. You saved his life...he'll probably give you free ice cream for the rest of your life."

And she and I would be having a discussion about what she'd done later. Lunging in front of a lunatic with a knife when he dove for the clerk was incredibly stupid and she's lucky not to be dead. I'd had a hard time containing my fury when she was giving her statement, but I managed. For tonight, I just wanted to hold her and be grateful I could.

I put the car in gear and headed toward her apartment.

"Where are you going?" She wanted to know.

"Your place. I assumed you'd want to be in your own bed after all this." It's where she usually retreated when bad things happened.

Stephanie cursed under her breath and it made me look at her. "What is it?"

"I forgot. With everything going on with your Grandma and now this, I forgot to tell you."

I cut my eyes to hers quickly, silently encouraging her to continue. "My lease was up last week and I didn't renew it. I had some of the guys pack up my stuff a couple of days ago and move it to Rangeman."

Lifting my foot off the gas, I slowly brought the car to a stop at the curb and slid it into park. I'd asked her to move in with me several times and though she spent most nights with me there, she yet to give up her place and I didn't think she ever would.

"Ranger...say something."

I didn't. Instead, I reached across the center console and hauled her into my lap. It was a tight fit but neither of us cared. I kissed her for several long moments, pouring every ounce of everything I felt for her into the slow mating of our lips and tongues and hearts. By the time I pulled back, I could feel the rapid beat of hers against my chest, synced in time with mine.

I was just about to tell her how much I loved her, how much I needed her when what I now considered our song came spilling out of the speakers.

'All of me loves all of you'...

Stephanie smiled, big and bright and beautiful just before she kissed me again.