The question was... should she cut it out of her own mind?

Leaning heavily against the pedestal sink in her bathroom, Noel refused to look at the mirror. Instead, she checked —for perhaps the hundred billionth time— the note she'd left for herself on her wrist. Today it was only 2 letters. NO.

Her evening out with Michael hadn't been erased from her memory... yet.

She'd enjoyed herself. She wanted to feel that way again. She was trying to learn from her mistakes. Noel couldn't learn from something she didn't know and couldn't remember.

The no wasn't just to warn her off cutting out what was making her uncomfortable. The no was also to warn her off showing up at his doorstep.

She'd imagined it as many times as she'd seen the note— With cowboy boots. With a bottle of something from Inferno. With just herself.

She'd knock.
They'd both smile.

Noel looked at her wrist again because it wasn't sounding like a bad idea.

NO.

She needed to go do something else. Something... fun.

Dancing had been fun. Inferno was a place where people danced. Different people would be there. Noel was pretty sure it wasn't Michael's teacup full of whiskey.

She supposed that putting on shoes that were nicer than sneakers meant that she had dressed up. She supposed that her reception was alright despite her nerves based on the number of drinks she got offered. She supposed it was an alright night, but whatever it was, wasn't dancing. She didn't trust any of those people. She'd never relaxed.

A woozy stagger let her into the elevator before the evening really went too far.

Noel made a small noise when her high heel tried to kill her by catching on the carpet, and another little sound when her foot tried to go one way and her shoe went in not the same direction.

Rude. That's what that was.

She touched her spinning head to the cool surface of her door and begged it all to just stop doing that so she could manage the key pad. Where was the keypad? Was this even her door?

The day had been busy. Everything had been the usual at Haven, but there had been several meetings at Blackforest Tactical and a couple runs to check a couple other locations for smaller contracts. A day he was glad he’d hired that kid to manage the paperwork and other more menial jobs at the office. Left him free to only deal with other headaches.

One thing that made the day less tedious was the occasional text with Noel. He didn’t have many chances to fire one off, him driving and in meetings most of the day, but it was something. He’d been texting back and forth with her since their trip out dancing.

Work had made trying to find another night to take her out difficult. A job had come up that put the Ranger acting as mission control while the rest of his Alpha unit handled a nasty mission for a NATO government. His evenings were occupied. He needed to change that. All work and no dancing makes Ranger a dull boy.

When he finally made it back home to Haven he kicked off his boots. He had no plans to go out that evening. And even if he had, it was getting about that time to just go to bed. A little tv to unwind. Just the news. It could play in the background while he changed out of his nicer work attire and into a brown shirt that had a cannon on it and said,”Come and Take It,” and a black pair of ranger panties. The Daisy Dukes of Freedom.

You can take the man out of special operations, but you can’t take the special operations out of the man.

The Ranger ate dinner while watching the news. It was the usual, everything is awful and nobody knows what they’re talking about. There was an attack somewhere of so little importance it only got a mention. A new bridge was completed somewhere. Nasa did… something. Everyone in the government was continuing to prove they all had pants on their heads.

Finally he had enough and was ready to call it a night.

Tv off and into his bedroom. Off with the shirt and then he turned to shut the bedroom door when he heard a soft sound at the door to his apartment. It was much too late for someone to be stopping by and if his staff needed him they’d have called.

Had he not lived in Haven he would have reached for a pistol to carry to the door. He had a shotgun behind the door and he could physically deal with almost anyone who was at the door. He could manage this one time without a handgun.

Wearing nothing but a pair of ranger panties, the Ranger opened the door and was pleasantly surprised.

”Evenin’, Noel.” He said smiling.

Seeing her made the day all worth it.

Under normal circumstances, the keypad was beside the door knob. Noel leaned in against the door to reach down and grab hold of the shoe that kept not being on her foot. It was a dual purpose lean in. She got to see quite clearly that there was 100% no keypad and fix that shoe.

And she got to see up close and personal when the door handle started moving. And behind the door was something she had never seen even in her wildest daydream.

She saw men’s underpants. The lose but not nearly lose enough kind that left Noel’s eyes wide and gave her enough hurried motivation to turn her gaze upwards.

Yes, up from there lived some abdominal muscles that were not bothered by petty trifles like modesty. Who wore shirts? Shirts would have clashed with the no don't look back at the shorts.

Up even more was Ranger, smiling. Just like this might be an everyday, normal kind of way to answer the door. Like she hadn't been an absolute moron to show up here.

She didn't think. She just reacted. Noel pushed him. She both did and didn't mean to. She mostly just knew that she needed to get away and pushing him had seemed like the best way to make that happen. Only, one of them was so much steadier than the other.

Noel landed on her backside in the hallway where she scrabbled at her high heels so that she wouldn't break an ankle. Her heart had gone off running and left her brain behind to swim in all the drinks she'd had tonight.

She was on her feet in a blink, regretting everything already. But there were no take backs and she could could only think of one way forward.

"Fight me."

She pulled one of the flimsy shoe soles out and threw it at him. If he didn't think she was dead serious, he was about to get another.

It was readily apparent that Noel was less than sober. Instead of a drunk dial, she was drunk knocking. Though at second though, she'd likely either set her head or hand against the door.

Noel's response to his greeting was not what he'd expected. Instead of even so much as a "HI" she pushed him. Or more accurately, she pushed herself off him. He had barely moved and she went down. In his surprise he failed to reach out in time to catch her arm to keep her from going to the ground.

The entire situation was rather amusing to the Ranger. There he was in just some ranger panties and Noel was drunk at his door at late o'clock and failing to push him thus putting her on her duff. He held back a laugh. He was about to help her up and ask if she wanted to come inside until she sobered up when she sprang back up.

Fight her?

Any protest was arrested when a shoe sole came flying at the Ranger. Channeling his inner George W. Bush he ducked the shoe sole. Noel was full of unexpected tonight. He might need to have a word with the bartenders at Inferno about over serving. Not normally his area, but as was immediately clear it could become a security issue.

Back up from the duck the Ranger said, "I'm not goin' t' fi-" He ducked behind the door just in time to avoid the second shoe sole. Noel wasn't about to take no for an answer.

He sighed, "Fine."

Maybe he could just force her into a submission and get her to calm down before someone got hurt. Not wanting to hurt Noel, that was likely going to be him. Driving her into the ground or the wall could lead to a head injury. Knocking her legs out from under her ran the same risk.

The Ranger moved forward through the threshold to Noel. He went for her wrists. If he could grab them he could spin her around and wrap her arms up around herself. He had the strength advantage if nothing else once he made contact.

Noel listed to the side in an attempt to make her world stop spinning. The drinks had made this hard-mode, but she knew from experience that the longer she could hold out, the better things would get.

He came forward.

His heart didn't seem in it at first. That was fine. She hadn't exactly planned to have an all-out sparring session while drunk in the hallways of Haven.

At this point they were so far off script, Noel wasn't sure of any objective outside of 'don't get caught.'

She was evasive. Noel didn't stand still, partly because the times that she tried to, it just didn't end up working out. Even better, Noel used her heels as cruddy static-hold tonfa. She was able to keep at least one shoe between his hands and her body at all times. She punched under. Kicked over. And did her damnedest to not be where he looked like he wanted to be.

Noel never could retaliate beyond a soft jab with a shoe because of her inferior reach, but she did manage to boop his nose.

It couldn't last forever, though. She was running out of hallway.

Attempt one at detaining Noel: Unsuccessful. He failed to grab hold oh her and she brought up high heels as improvised weapons. He made another grab at her. This too failed. Not only did it fail, he had to shift back to avoid a heel.

This him grabbing at her, her shoeing him away carried on for longer than it really should have. The Ranger didn't want to hurt Noel and Noel was drunk. He moved in to grab but she would throw out punches and kicks. Not only was she fighting back, she moved around like she didn't even know where she was going.

She did manage to hit him with the shoe a couple times. It never hurt, he could outreach her and normally he was moving back when the shoe made contact.

Stepping up his effort the Ranger moved in closer, juking around a shoe to grab at her torso. Start with a bear hug, transition into something else once she couldn't move around.

The other shoe booped him on the nose.

He paused for the briefest of moments. It hadn't hurt, but it took him by surprise. Recovering from the nose tap he pressed on. She was running out of hallway. Once she backed into the wall he should have her. The thing that was working best for her so far was ability to move. With her back to a wall that would be greatly restricted.

Change tactics. Get her to the wall, then restrain her. If she tried to pass him to head back the other way just go for the grab and pull her down to the ground. If she got hurt he had ice.

It happened when she looked back to see how much space she had left. She should never have taken her eyes off of him.

He made a grab for her torso, but ended up wrapping a hand around her hip on the soft caress of denim that passed for her pants. Noel turned back in time to see his other arm and the rest of him unavoidably coming to close off all her escape options.

Forget dignity. Noel wanted to win.

She dropped her heels and undid the button of her pants as he wrapped up around her. She managed to wriggle a leg free before he squeezed down which made it possible to step over his shoulder and wrench her last leg out of his grip and her pants.

Noel fumbled to the ground and back up, into a wall, and then ran full out until she reached the Ranger's door.

Pants did not matter when you're home alone.

She slammed the door and gulped down a tilting breath. This... wasn't her apartment.

Noel looked down at her naked legs. At least she knew where he kept the pants...

Noel looked back. Mistake. The Ranger reached out for her side and snagged her pants. It would work. Unless she doffed her pants she wasn't getting away. He brought his other arm around to take a more solid hold of her.

While he did this Noel decided pants were for the weak. While he took hold of her she wiggled herself out of her pants, and walked over him.

That... That did not go as expected.

The Ranger turned, still holding Noel's pants in one hand, to see her hit a wall. Such a great escape. She rebounded and started running full tilt. She got a moment of a lead due to the Ranger taking a moment to stare at notice Noel's nice butt in her black underwear. A moment that she used to direct herself into his apartment and slam the door behind her.

"She didn't..." He said quietly to himself as he walked over to the door.

Locked.

What a sight it was. The Ranger wearing nothing but black ranger panties, standing in front of a door to an apartment with a pair of women's pants in his hand. His phone and keys were inside. Not sure what else to do he knocked. On his own door.

"Noel... Noel? Come on, Noel. Unlock the door."

Nothing.

The Ranger sighed. He didn't want to have to find one of his security guys to unlock his room. There were still whispers of boot banditry. This would only fan the flames. He Knocked once more before deciding to go get a key or a pick from security. Then he saw it, Noel's phone was in her pants' back pocket. He snatched it and used it to dial his pwn phone in the apartment. He could just hear through the door the sound of his ringer going off. The first twenty seconds to Cody Johnson's Wild As You. A ringtone just for Noel.


When she picked up he said, "Noel. Please unlock the door."

She heard him at the door, but Noel was already halfway through his pants drawer. She was looking for those dumpy sweats that she'd poured ice water down and then she took her dear sweet time slipping her legs into the soft, comfort fabric. Hm. This night was looking better already.

Dulcet tones of something with a fair amount of guitar started playing. Bluetooth speakers? Was he playing music from outside? It wasn't until she'd wandered back toward the middle and the clip played again exactly the same that she realized it was his phone ringing against the coffee table.

She had to to dive for it in order to grab it up on the last ring and banged both shins for her trouble.

"Kelburn mortuary, you snuff em, we stuff em."

Ah. He didn't sound terribly pleased.

"Ah. Yeah." She fumbled with the lock one handed and opened the door with his phone still to her ear. Now this was how you were supposed to answer the door. Fully clothed.

"Hey." Noel worried at her bottom lip as she stepped back to allow the Ranger into his own home. Had she crossed the line? Almost undoubtedly. And now she was imposing on his pants. She let the phone drop into her hand so she could hang up and pass it over.

While the world was still spinning, Noel was a fair bit sobered from her first forehead knock against his door.

Right before the phone would have kicked over to the voicemail, there was a thud inside the apartment and Noel's voice came over the line. He didn't know what to expect when she answered, the witty motto for a mortuary was not at all in the running. He realized after he'd said it that he probably sounded a bit more irritated than he actually was. While he was not happy, he was by no means mad at Noel.

She agreed to unlock the door and after a moment he could hear her working the lock. She opened the door, wearing a pair of his pants again. Which was disappointing. She looked good, sweats robbed him of the sight. He would somehow manage. And he would hold off on making comments about it this time. He'd had enough things fly at his head this evening.

"Thanks." He said once the door was completely open.

"Hey."

She said as she stepped back for him to walk in. As he walked in he noticed her worrying her lip and that she wasn't exactly stable standing there.

"Hey." He said back with a warm smile. As irritated as he was with the whole day, how busy work was all the way up to being locked out of his apartment, he was still glad to see Noel. Besides, she hadn't done anything too crazy and he couldn't hold too much of it against her since she'd been drinking. He'd just have to be on his guard next time she showed up smelling of alcohol. Make sure to have his keys with him before he chased her around.

"Do y' need t' lie down?" He put his hand on her side with one hand and gestured with the other. The hand with Noel's pants in it. "Have a seat on the couch. I'll get y' some water." He then closed the door. "Try not t' get it down my pants this time." He joked.

How unfair was it that when he smiled, she couldn't help but reciprocate? He smiled. She smiled. It was, like, the law.

Noel dropped her eyes away from his so she wouldn't accidentally wipe that smile away. Except beneath his smile was his bare chest. Further down, that way lay madness. In her attempt to find almost anything else to look at, Noel noticed her shoes laying abandoned out in the hallway.

> "Do y' need t' lie down?"

She was pretty sure her whole world zeroed down to where he touched her. Moments before she'd had coherent thoughts in her head. Now she really, really didn't.

"No. I mean yes, but no. I don't want- I'm-" -having trouble finishing a thought. The Ranger took mercy on her and just told her where to go. Except, he was closing the door. And her shoes were outside.

She didn't have a whole lot of things and all of those were from the grace of others. She didn't expect someone who lived here to be anything except annoyed at something laying in the hallway, she certainly didn't expect them to steal them. It was the idea that they were entrusted to her and leaving them out there wasn't doing a super great job of fulfilling that trust.

Noel skirted around Hunter in order to stick her fingers between the door and jamb. She caught the door with her arm extended in line with her face, her permanent marker NO. not six inches from her nose. Without enough time for her hand to get all the way through it was just her fingers getting crushed that'd kept it from closing.

Shoot. Tears of ouch prickled her eyes. Why did she do that? She could have just re-opened the door!

"I- shoes." Was the most complete and eloquent explanation she could manage with her voice tight with self-inflicted stupidity.

Noel squeezed out the door and went for the heels.

This was NO territory. She'd been warning herself off of this. She also really, incredibly regretted bending down. Her head and poor balance did not make it easy. She didn't fall, but she did have to use her hands to help herself back up.

Now was the time to say no. She was out. She had her shoes. But now... Now he had her phone and pants. Noel waffled mentally about ditching anyway, but she needed her phone, at least. Her phone and then she would nope out. Noel padded back and did her best to get herself onto the couch without further incident.

The door closed. On Noel's fingers. The Ranger had seen her hand shoot out to catch the door but couldn't stop himself from shutting the door in time. Did her wrist say 'No'? Immediately after the door had made pancakes of fingers, the Ranger had it open again. After her previous incoherence the Ranger thought she wanted to not be there.

"I- shoes."

This was so she could get her shoes? He could have gotten them for her. Best not mention that after she get her fingers crushed by a door.

Noel went out into the hallway to retrieve her shoes. The Ranger went to get an ice pack for Noel's fingers. She'd managed walking so far, he could have the ice ready when she come back instead of just making sure she was okay. And if she did have a Life Alert moment he would be close and only gone for a few moments.

He set her pants on the table on his way to the kitchen. He left the phone next to them. It only took a minute to get the ice pack together. He heard Noel come back in as he was getting out a glass to fill with water for her.

Leaving the kitchen he saw Noel had managed to find her way to the couch. The Ranger approached, set the water on the coffee table, and handed her the ice pack. "Sorry about the fingers."

He did stealthily eye where the shoes wound up. Never know if she would decide to go from shoe sole to just shoe artillery.

Noel tossed her weapons of choice under the coffee table and sat backwards on the couch so that she could prop her chin up on the top of the cushion while she watched Hunter move around in his space. He wasn't the only one with a view to admire.

Returning with an ice pack, the Ranger apologized. She hadn't actually stopped to inspect them, but now that she was there was hardly even any broken skin. She could feel that they were stiff, but other than a bruise Noel didn't expect much trouble from it, but she accepted the ice pack because he'd brought it to her.

"S'okay. That bit of idiocy's pretty squarely my fault." She hesitated and took a minute to squirrel the ice pack and her hands away between herself and the couch back. "Actually 100% of tonight's idiocy."

What was she doing here? Noel buried her face into the cushion. It was a lovely cushion. So supportive.

The shoes were under the coffee table. Might as well be demilled with how long it would take to retrieve them from there. And Noel was sitting backwards on the couch. If only she wasn’t wearing his pants. Though it may be for the best, he’d likely just walk into his coffee table if she was sitting like that still pantsless. That would likely send water onto his couch again. And make him look foolish.

“S’okay. That bit of idiocy’s pretty squarely my fault.” She took the ice pack and made it and her hands disappear between herself and the couch. She then added that all of the nights idiocy was her fault.

The Ranger gently set his hand on her back as he moved to take a seat next to her on the couch. This meant when he sat he had to sit like her. Well, when in Rome. Except, this isn’t Rome. It was his home and it was most certainly not how that couch was normally sat on.

When comforting? Good enough.

”I wouldn’t say it was idiocy. An’ besides, gave me a chance t' see y’ t'day.“ And even better, see her sans pants again but in her own underwear this time. That was the nice black cherry on top.

Was sitting like this comfortable for her? It certainly wasn’t for him.

He touched her back and Noel became hyper aware that she was breathing and that breathing moved her back under his fingers. Was she breathing weird? What a dumb thing to worry about.

She hadn't expected him to pack his legs in first and sit backwards as she had. It made her laugh to see all that extra muscle cramp into such a small space. She curled up much more compactly. It was a lot less weird for her to conform to the back of the couch and still have space for all her legs and arms.

Noel wormed her hand out from hiding and poked the side of his knee which had ended up between them.

"Didn't expect to see you today." Not that she hadn't hoped. They'd been roughly in touch by text so she knew he'd been busy. She may not have intended to stop at his door, but if she was honest with herself, she was glad that she'd gotten a warm welcome despite her flubs.

And speaking of warm, oooh. His knee was warm. She'd hadn't thought it through that the ice pack would make such a temperature difference between them. It'd started at a one finger poke, but eventually it was her whole icy hand sliding across his knee and a gleam of mischief in her eye.

He had an awful lot of skin showing and he was the one that didn't fit backwards. If he freaked out, he'd dump himself right back off the couch.