Disclaimer: I don't own anything, not making any money ECT.
Spoilers: Bits and pieces up until the 13th book although it's a bit of a AU story. Kind of.
Warning: Touchy subjects and adult themes.
Note: I'm not in the Mob so I have no idea about how its run, everything I know comes from books I've read, and movies and shows I've watched. Also I've never gone into a coma then woken up years later so some of this won't be accurate.
The Little Luciano
Chapter One
Steph's POV
Just like every other Sunday, I sat down beside her hospital bed, just sitting and watching and waiting. It was a private hospital and her room looked like any other six year olds room, brightly coloured walls, photos of family, princess bed spread and toys and books lining shelves and dressers. The only things out of place were the life support machines beeping away beside her.
I watched as her chest rose and fell with the help of those machines. Angelina was my secret, only a few people knew about her. I wasn't ashamed but it was safer if nobody knew, she was less likely to be hurt because of her family, like last time. I picked out Blinky Bill from the shelf and started reading.
""Bold little wretches!" Splodge the largest
kangaroo in the zoo lay on his side, eyes
tightly shut, teeth grinding with anger, and his
tummy fairly boiling with indignation."
I stopped reading when I realized that her monitors were beeping faster and faster. I stood up feeling panicked and not sure what to do. Three nurses came running in, one of them ordering me outside.
I waited what felt like hours, but was probably only ten minutes, for the nurse to come back out. Sam, the nurse that had looked after Angelina from the beginning, came out with a smile on her face. I knew that something good must have happened.
"Angelina just woke up. She's a little disorientated and we have to run some test but everything looks like it's fine so far."
I went back into the room. Angelina had been on life support for four years and never had anything changed, seeing her looking around the room, even if it was in confusion, brought tears to my eyes. When she saw me, she croaked out "Mommy." Then started crying. I crossed the room and sat on her bed, pulling her into a hug. I was still in shock from having my little girl back.
As soon as she'd fallen back asleep, I eased off her bed. The forgotten Blinky Bill book lay on the floor, I picked it up putting it back on the shelf then made my way outside. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and looked at it. I hadn't talked to Angelo in about two years and even then it was only about Angelina.
"Hi. It's Steph," I said when he answered.
"What's up?" His normal response came back.
"Angelina woke up." I got straight to the point, Angelo and my relationship was strained at best. "Are you still there?"
"Yeah, sorry." I heard him shuffle around a bit and then a door close. "Are you sure she's awake?"
"Well, her eyes were open and she's not on the life support anymore, so yeah, I'm pretty sure she's awake." I was a little snippy but I couldn't help it.
"I should be able to get there by tonight. She's okay, isn't she? Nothing's wrong?" Angelo's worry made me feel guilty for snapping at him. Angelina was his only child and he loved her more than life itself.
"She's sleeping at the moment and Sam said everything looked fine at first glance but they'll still be running some tests." I could hear him let out a breath and relax when I finished.
I disconnected Angelo and went back into Angelina's room, settling myself in the chair beside her bed, just in case she woke up again. As I sat there my mind drifted to Angelo. We had met about seven years ago, just after my divorce from Dickie. I knew then that he dealt with shady people and was in some big way connected to the Mob but I wanted that danger. I wanted to make myself believe that I wasn't just some poor old 'Burg house wife. Angelo turned out to be more than just the rebound guy and a year after we met I had Angelina. Angelo was ecstatic, he loved Angelina so much. We were happy for two years. I found out that Angelo was in fact Don Roberto Luciano's first son, but it didn't matter much to me. They never discussed business in front of me and the whole Luciano "Family" welcomed me as one of their own.
That all ended when Angelina was kidnapped by another "family" and she was hurt when the kidnappers had a car crash. Angelina ended up on life support and my relationship with Angelo deteriorated after that. On some level I always blamed him and he could never live with the guilt, we fought constantly and finally I went back to Trenton. I never told anybody but my parents and Mary-Lou about those three years, and Angelo told everyone but his father that Angelina had died, we even had funeral for her before I went back home. Angelina was moved to Trenton's Private Care Hospital so that I would be near her and so that it would be harder for anybody to find her.
Ranger's POV
I ran my hands over my face; this case was getting to me. We knew that the Luciano family were running a kiddie porn ring but we couldn't get any proof. I looked at the picture of Steph sitting on my desk, even just looking at her calmed me down.
There was a knock at my door and Tank came in. "Boss, Angelo Luciano just got off a plane here in Trenton."
"Shit. Was there anybody with him?"
"No. It was just Angelo."
"Keep a man on him, and make sure he doesn't know he's being followed." Tank left and I went back to staring at my Babe. This day was going to the shit, maybe if I saw Steph, I might feel better. Grabbing the keys to the Porsche I left hoping that Steph would let me help her with her FTA's for the day.