A/N: Thank you to those of you who sent your wonderful reviews of 72 Hours. It's taken a while to write the sequel that several of you asked for. To be honest, the story did not want to be written. I hope you all enjoy reading it.

A special thank you for those of you who gave me such good advice, wisdom handholding, support and butt-kicking when I needed it most. Thank you for putting up with my neurosis.

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. I just borrowed them from the amazing J.E. to have a little fun.

If you have not read 72 Hours, this story will not make sense to you. It is a short story, so please take time to read it before continuing this one.

Warning: Smut & Spoilers: All 13

Learning about love - Prologue

I've been lying here listening to the sounds of the monitors beeping beside my bed for a while now. I can feel the arm that's slung across my body, and I know without opening my eyes by the feeling of security and the fading scent of Bulgari that it's Ranger who's holding me. I wasn't shocked that Ranger had found a way to stay with me, but I was surprised that he'd felt the need to.

I have no recollection of how long I've been here. Memories flash through my mind broken and disjointed with plenty of gaps in between. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be all right, though, as I remember hearing Ranger's laughter as I had drifted in and out of the darkness. Or had it been Tank? I couldn't be sure that the laughter had been a reality or the product of my dreams. I remember talking to Tank, but I'm sure I heard Ranger's voice. Frustrated by the fuzziness, I kept my eyes closed and concentrated.

"I smell something burning, Babe." I shifted my head slightly so that I could look over at Ranger. His eyes were open and alert, watching me.

"Just trying to put the pieces together."

At the twinge of pain in my shoulder I tried shifting slightly. Ranger's arm tightened, tucking me closer to his side. His voice, soft and husky, was close to my ear, "How are you feeling?"

"Okay, I think." The rustiness of my own voice had me grimacing. I tried to clear my throat.

"Do you need anything?"

"Some water." I felt Ranger start to move away from me but my voice stopped him. "Not yet. Can we just lay here for a minute?" Ranger moved back against me and, careful to not jar my body too much, pulled me to his side again.

"Babe." I could hear the concern in his voice, and I felt tears sting the back of my eyes. Afraid that my voice would break, I took a deep breath and blew it out.

"Can you just hold me for a few more minutes?" I don't know why I felt so emotional and needy. I'm not normally a weepy kind of girl. I just knew I couldn't bear to lose the contact with him just yet.

Ranger reached up with his free hand and turned my face so that he could look into my eyes. I don't know what he read there, but I saw his eyes darken. He dipped his head and brushed a gentle kiss against my lips and then tucked my head under his chin.

"How long have I been here?" I whispered.

"Four days." Ranger responded. I thought about that for a minute.

"Have you been here the whole time?" Ranger turned his head and placed a kiss on my hair but didn't answer.

"What do you remember?" I heard something in Ranger's voice that I was too tired to make sense of.

"I think I remember most of what happened. I was shot. How bad is it?"

I felt Ranger's body stiffen slightly. "You're going to be fine. You took one to the shoulder and another that nicked the lung. They had some trouble removing that one because of where it was. The doctor says you should be ready to go home in a few more days and you should make a full recovery."

"I bet my mother's been going crazy fielding phone calls." I don't know why that was my first thought. Childhood conditioning, I guess.

"Your mother's been here every day. She was worried." I knew he was trying to keep me from getting upset about my mother's reaction.

"How about you? Were you worried about me?" I asked in an attempt to lighten his mood.

"I told you before, Babe, I always worry about you." Again there was something in Ranger's voice that I couldn't quite recognize, a strain that wasn't usually there.

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Learning about love - Chapter 1

After a week in the hospital I'm no longer surprised waking up with Ranger tucked against me and his arm thrown over my middle, generally with his hand lightly cupping my breast. Normally this would send a rush through me, but right now I had to settle for a tingle. It's hard to feel sexy in a hospital gown. I've seen the look of disapproval from some of the nurses when they come in, but none of them seem to have the courage to tell him he's not allowed to be here.

I adjusted slightly to find a more comfortable position and felt Ranger's arm tuck me closer. "Babe." I closed my eyes and allowed the caress of his voice wash over me.

"Just trying to get comfortable. I'm tired of being in bed." I could hear the petulance in my voice and was annoyed by it.

I felt Ranger's lips against my ear and shivered at his warm breath. "I can distract you, if you'd like." I felt a rush as he gently bit my earlobe and ran his thumb over my nipple.

"Thanks, but I'm not feeling my most glamorous here." Ranger angled his body so that he could look at me.

"You have a point. The hair's looking a little scary, Babe." I went to punch him in the arm and gasped at the twinge that ran through my shoulder. Ranger's face was instantly serious. His eyes watching intently.

"Do you want me to call the nurse in to give you something for the pain?"

"No, thanks. It was just a twinge. Besides, I'm tired of feeling groggy all the time. I just want to go home. The doctor did say I could go home today if I was feeling up to it." I was tired of being in bed. I just wanted to get out of here.

Ranger gave me a dark look. "The doctor said if everything checks out when he examines you, and if he could be assured you'd get plenty of bed rest and had someone to help you around the clock for the next several weeks then you could leave today. He didn't make any guarantees."

"I'm ready. I don't want to be here any longer." I could hear the whiny tone of my voice and knew Ranger had too. He had that look that said he was thinking about smiling. Then his eyes went serious again.

"We need to talk. Are you feeling up to that?" I was pretty sure I knew what Ranger wanted to talk about, and I was also sure I wasn't ready for it. I remember telling Tank not to tell Ranger that I was in love with him. Fool, I thought not for the first time, Ranger must have been here the whole time. Well, here it goes. This is the part where Ranger gives me another speech from his '10 Reasons Why Batman Doesn't Do Relationships' list. I wasn't sure if I'd imagined the whole 'I love you in every possible way' thing, but I knew we had to talk about it eventually, and I was thinking I'd need a whole lot of mascara before we had that conversation.

"I'm sort of tired." I could tell by the look on Ranger's face that he wasn't buying it for a moment.

"We're going to have to talk about it eventually, Babe." Ranger's voice made it clear he knew I was being evasive.

"I was thinking later would be good." What I didn't say was that I was thinking never would be even better.

Ranger just stared at me for a long minute. "I want you to come back to my apartment when you're released." I felt my heart trip in my chest at his words before he continued.

"Ella is there, so you'd have the best care possible outside of a hospital. Besides, you love my bed. If you're going to be spending so much time in one, you might as well be comfortable." I felt a small ache that the invitation to stay at his place had been for practical purposes.

"What about Rex?" I was trying to act as casual as he had sounded.

"Ella has Rex. As soon as you're settled in she'll bring him up to my place, but she'll still feed him and take care of him until you're on your feet."

"I could probably go back to my place and get my grandma to come stay with me. I wouldn't want to impose on Ella. Or you. I haven't seen Joe, which I have to admit surprises me. I know we've been broken up for a while, but I figured he'd at least stop by to check on me. He must be undercover or else he's just fed up with my disasters. Either way I have a feeling staying with him isn't an option."

I felt Ranger stiffen and his arm tighten around me. "No, staying with Morelli is no longer an option." His voice was tight, and I heard alarms go off in my head. I didn't really want to stay with Joe, had no intentions of staying with Joe even if it was an option. I just hated feeling like I was an inconvenience to Ranger.

"Why are you angry?" Well, duh, Stephanie. You can't tell a man you love him and then suggest staying with your ex-boyfriend. Of course, technically I hadn't told Ranger I love him. I told Tank to tell Ranger I love him. And then I told Tank not to tell Ranger I love him. God, I'm giving myself a headache.

"I said we needed to talk. It would probably be best to wait until we get back to the apartment." I watched as Ranger angled out of the bed, walked into the adjoining bathroom and closed the door. I pushed one of the buttons on the side of the hospital bed and waited impatiently as it motored up to a sitting position.

While I waited for Ranger to reappear I thought about my options. I wanted to ask about Joe and why he hadn't been to see me. I had a feeling Ranger had the answer even if he obviously didn't want to discuss it. I had no intention of staying with Joe, but on the other hand I didn't want to stay in Ranger's apartment surrounded by him when he was there and surrounded by the scent of him all around me when he wasn't. Now that I had admitted to myself that I was in love with him, even in my current physical condition, it was a small torture to be near him. But that wasn't the biggest problem. I didn't want him to feel obligated to take care of me.

By the time Ranger came back out I was feeling miserable all over. He looked at my face as he walked back to the bed.

"Babe?"

I looked down and focused on the print of the ugly hospital gown I was wearing. I could feel hot tears burning behind my eyes, but I fought them back. With everything else I was feeling, crying in front of Ranger was one more humiliation I just couldn't deal with right now.

"I don't want to be a burden to Ella. Or to you. You've been great spending so much time with me while I've been in here. I know I must have caused you a great deal of worry, but you need to get back to work. You can't keep babysitting me." For a moment the only sound in the room was the constant beep of the monitor next to the bed.

I could sense the intensity of Ranger's eyes on me, but I didn't have the courage to look at him. Finally I felt the bed shift under his weight as he sat next to me. He put his finger gently under my chin and turned my face so that I had no choice but to look at him.

"Stephanie, you sometimes frustrate me and occasionally piss me off. You amuse me, frighten me and cause me untold amounts of worry, but you have never been a burden to me, and I've never considered the time I've spent with you babysitting." I looked at the seriousness in his eyes and felt a tear plop out and slide down my cheek. Ranger gently rubbed it away with his thumb.

"Come home with me. Let Ella and me take care of you until you're feeling better." His voice was soft and coaxing.

When I didn't answer immediately he went on, "I want you with me." I could only stare at him. There was a gentleness to him that made my insides quiver. He'd only asked me to stay at his place while I was recuperating, but my instincts were screaming that he was asking me far more than that.

"Okay. Thank you. I'd be happy to stay at your place for a while. I'll try not to be a pain in your ass while I'm there." To my astonishment Ranger's eyes widened slightly and lit with amusement. Then he threw back his head and laughed.