I don't own the characters and unfortunately the same goes for the song.
"…say a prayer for peace, for our daughters and our sons, set our spirits free, let us lay down our guns, Sweet Mother Mary we're so tired, but we can't come home, no we can't come home till the last shots fired"
I stood in Ranger's office staring blindly out the window. The melodic final chorus sung by Trace Adkins, and the West Point Cadet Glee Club, haunted me. It stuck in the back of my mind playing over and over, in the quiet moments, and my dreams. Every time I heard that last little bit, I couldn't help but close my eyes and send up a little prayer for Ranger and his men.
Thinking back over the last 14 months, I was amazed at how far I'd come. That I was Ranger's emergency contingency plan never ceased to amaze me. From almost the day we'd met Ranger had been guiding me to be able to take over his business if necessary. I smiled as I realized that I was doing a good job and I enjoyed it.
Ranger just seemed to know that this mission whatever/wherever it was would eventually require him to call in the rest of his core team. Immediate plans were put into action; I would start learning how to do the paperwork and other business critical information the next day. As I drove home that night my head swimming with an overload of information, as song The Song as I now thought of it had come on the radio. At first I didn't' pay any attention to the song but towards the end of second chorus, I felt my heart stop and my eyes fill.
Somehow I'd found myself in a pew on the front row of Our Lady of Peace. Praying to God, asking him to protect these men, my men. They had become my friends, and family. It was there that my mom and Joe's grandma Bella found me. The three of us talked for hours and we found understanding. We came to an agreement, Mom and Bella helped me realize how much I love Ranger, and I explained to them why I could never settle for just being a Burg housewife. It still amazes me the amount of support and kindness I received from them. I now have a standing invitation for dinner, at Grandma Bella's house.
Another surprising development came about six months after Ranger left and right after Tank joined him. I received a distraught call from Rachel, Julie was having problems and it was to the point where Julie had come to her parents begging to be allowed to come to Trenton. Julie's nightmares of the Scrog fiasco had returned shortly after Ranger left, but not knowing where he was and if he was okay had added a whole new frightening dimension to them. The visions she described first to her parents and then to me of Ranger broken and tortured by Bin Laden, or crawling on the floor following a faceless terrorist who pulled him along by a leash, convinced us all to try Julie in Trenton.
I had moved into Ranger's apartment and Julie came to live with me. I was happy with how well the arrangement worked for all of us. Lester left three months after Julie arrived promising to let Ranger know. Julie's dreams had not disappeared overnight, but for the most part they were gone. She took a great deal of comfort being able to sleep in his space. Truthfully I needed that same comfort as well.
When Bobby left just over four months ago, we had settled into our routines, I was running Rangeman Trenton on my own, and doing well. He promised to let Ranger know everything was good and to give him the short letter Julie and I had written him. It was short to the point and most importantly didn't give any identifying details.
I sighed and looked at the time, 3:45pm. My Dad should be dropping Julie off soon. Every afternoon Julie would ride the bus with my nieces to my parent's house. They would spend a couple of hours with my Mom and Grandma doing homework, eating cookies, and sometimes learning basic cooking techniques. My Dad would bring Julie to the Rangeman building between 4:30 and 5:00pm. Julie would then file paperwork, run errands and generally help around the office until we would go upstairs for dinner around six. After dinner we would talk about her day, and any upcoming plans we had, for the most part we hung out comfortable in each other's presence until bedtime.
Closing my eyes I took a deep breath, letting it out I opened my eyes and looked around Ranger's office. It was exactly how he had left it. The dark grey industrial carpet, and beige walls, with a couple of deep blue and black area rugs thrown in for color; with gorgeous dark cherry wood bookshelves, with a matching desk.
Something in the air had me on edge, but it wasn't just me. The whole office seemed to be waiting for something, we just didn't know what. It had crept in slowly a week or so back, and I honestly couldn't decide whether it was the upcoming holidays or not. Christmas was just over a week from now; the second Ranger would miss while he's been gone.
I sat on Ranger's black leather couch, and leaned my head back, closing my eyes. Today I just couldn't seem to get anything productive done. Most of my day had gone by without my notice. Silence filled the building, usually the building was quiet, but this was total and complete silence and it jarred me from my thoughts. I jumped up ready to deal with whatever emergency/disaster waited for me. The slight ding of the elevator carried across the floor, as I exited Ranger's office.
All of Rangeman stood at attention that was the only way to describe it. Backs ramrod straight, arms glued to their sides, and every single one was facing the elevator. I turned to my left hope blooming in my heart as the clapping started.
There they stood my brave soldiers. I smiled, restraining my tears and myself from throwing myself at them. They were all skinnier and care worn but that didn't matter to me. A few good meals from Ella and the chance to sleep as long as their bodies needed would set them right.
I moved to them slowly, giving each a hug and a kiss on their foreheads welcoming them home. When I reached Ranger I looked deep into his eyes for a moment, before I opened my arms and gathered him to me. So many times in the past he had held me giving me comfort in the face of my troubles; and now it was my turn. And so I held him while the others moved around us. Conversations started as Bobby, Lester, and Tank were each welcomed home by the other men. Ranger rested his head on my hair and held onto me as if for dear life. I was content to hug him as long as he wanted.
The ding of the elevator only vaguely registered as we stood there, locked in that desperate embrace. The impact of Julie's body as she threw herself at us sobbing made Ranger lift his head. In the next moment he was on his knees cradling Julie to his chest.
Julie's body trembled as she sobbed on his shoulder. Ranger looked up at me and in his eyes I could see the trace of tears he didn't want to release in front of his men. I inclined my head towards his office and he nodded, scooping Julie up as he stood. My eyes were full of tears as I followed behind them.
Tank, Bobby and Lester fell in behind me, closing and locking Ranger's office door. Ranger smiled and nodded his thanks, as he sat on the couch.
Julie had progressed to incoherent babbling in between her sobs and I worried that she would soon make herself sick. I quickly moved to sit next to them, rubbing her back.
"Shh Querida, shh I am here…we're all here. You're safe, we're all okay." Ranger murmured to her trying to calm her.
Lester sank to his knees in front of us. "Hush little one, look Papa is here he is safe and Uncle Tank and Bobby and I we're all here baby. We're home, its okay love." At Lester's words Julie turned towards him reaching out with one arm for him. She still held Ranger tightly with her other arm. Bobby and Tank swooped in from opposite sides and I found myself hugging and being hugged by the Rangeman core team.
We sat like that giving and receiving comfort until Julies cries quieted and she lay lax in our arms. Slowly, quietly Tank, Bobby and Lester got up and left the office. I leaned my head against Ranger's shoulder; closing my eyes I sent up grateful prayers of thanksgiving, that my men were home safe.