Ave Maria
By Hummer246
#8 in iPod Series
A/N: I wanted to thank everyone that has been sending me good wishes and thoughts while I was so ill. They were greatly appreciated and helped me through times that were very hard. According to my Doctor I am now in remission and am healthy! Yay! So without further ado here is the last chapter of the iPod Series, only the epilogue left and yes guys, I have about half already written so you won't have such a long wait this time! Once I again I really want to thank everyone who prayed and thought good thoughts for me while I was going through treatment! I couldn't have done it without you!
As always: Not mine, just borrowing for a while!
Jonesy looked down at the still form on the bed but was seeing her as she was yesterday. It was truly amazing what twenty-fours could change.
"Why are you so cold? In all the time I've known you I don't think I've ever seen you with a man, kiss someone."
Stephanie kept her face averted and looked out at the barren landscape that was the Nevada desert.
"I love someone," she looked over her shoulder, facing Jonesy for just a second before looking back at the landscape, "There isn't anything I wouldn't do for him, even die."
Stephanie turned around, her face placid and serene, not showing any emotion that was swirling through her. She knew that this might well be her last civilized conversation of her life. On impulse she hugged Jonesy hard and let go as fast as she had done it. She climbed into her SUV and rolled down the window.
"You know what to do when the time comes, right? You have his numbers," she saw his nod, "For what it's worth Jonesy, you are a good man. Don't forget, Drake is the first one you call no matter what happens. Take care of the guys for me," Stephanie took a deep breath, "And ask Mia out, she's been waiting a long time for you."
Jonesy saw her nod her head at him and then she was gone in a plume of desert dust. He didn't know how long he stood there watching the dust trail of her truck. He shook his head shaking the memory out and looked at her again lying in the bed. He knew one thing about Stephanie Plum. She was the smartest person he knew and she had bigger balls than he did. He looked away from the still form and saw her doctor, Ranger, and Drake walk in.
"What is her condition?" Leave it to Drake to get right to the point Jonesy thought.
"I'm sorry I can only discuss her condition with her next of kin. As I see she's not wearing a wedding ring and no one in here is either I'll have to wait unti.."
"I have her medical power-of-attorney right here." Drake announced handing the doctor a manila envelope. Ranger's head snapped over at Drake so fast Jonesy thought he had whiplash.
It was if no one breathed while the doctor read all the legal jargon. He looked at Drake and then at myself and Ranger. Drake nodded that it was ok to talk in front of them.
"Ms. Plum has numerous lacerations and contusions all over her body. She lost more than half her blood volume which threw her body into shock and began to shut down her organs. She coded twice while in surgery until we could get her stable. Right now we have her sedated to keep her calm and to give her body a rest. From my exam of her person this woman has been through hell. She has several fractures which has healed over, her arms, legs, torso are covered in small incisions, all of these are old injuries, I approximate about a year, no more than 18 months old. She has several new cuts to her inner thighs. I need to know if she is a Cutter."
"What? Cutter?"
"Yes, she is." Drake answered at the same time Ranger stuttered.
"She told me she began cutting about 6 months ago. As her attorney I advised her to seek mental help for this but as she told me, she pays for legal advice not medical from me. As her attorney of record I need to know if she is going to survive this latest trauma. Is she going to recover?"
"Yes, she will. We will begin to reduce the sedation in about four hours and it will take up to two days for it to be completely out of her system. She should begin to be lucid in approximately twelve hours. She will still need to be monitored for at minimum three days here in ICU then if all goes well she will be down-graded from critical to stable and moved to the regular floor."
"That's fine, we have the necessary hospital clearance in place for her security to be in place for whichever room she is placed in. The ten man team will be stationed at all entrances and exits; two will be in her room at all times. Please let your medical staff know they will need to wear their medical credentials when they want to enter her room from now on. Security has already run all the necessary back grounds on all staff for the ICU, when you have determined when she will be moved that floor will be checked out."
"That's fine as long as they know not to interfere with any medical treatment necessary."
"Here is my card, please call me day or night if there is any change in her condition while I'm not here."
Jonesy watched the doctor take the card leaving the three of them alone with Stephanie. Drake looked over at Jonesy leaning against the wall watching Stephanie.
"You know where to reach me. I'll be back in two hours, call if there is any change. When she's stable, that's when we'll move her to a secure location. You're in charge. You have the order for any further incursions, understand?"
Jonesy nodded his understanding and watched out the corner of his eye as Drake left. He never understood why Stephanie picked him as her lawyer until now. Drake was a cold-hearted bastard but she always said that that's why she hired him. He would do exactly what she paid him to do and not what was right, just what he was paid for, and according to Stephanie that's what she wanted.
He could feel Ranger's eyes on him but he kept looking at Stephanie lying there too still. She was never this still, not even in her sleep. She kept going and going like that stupid Energizer bunny. Now seeing her so still was wrong, on so many levels he didn't know how to process it. His phone interrupted his thoughts.
"Yeah?
"We have incoming; Stephanie's parents are in the elevator. ICU is clear, when stable will be transporting offsite. Call Mia; get the gear and food for thirty. Rotate every eight. I'm here for the duration." Shadow informed Jonesy. He turned when the door opened to see Tank standing there telling Ranger that he just brought up Stephanie's parents and they were talking to a nurse.
"Hector has some video to show you but I don't know if you should see it right now. Let's go get some coffee instead."
Ranger just walked out without saying anything, he went to the waiting room taking in everyone looking at him. Ranger made his way over to Hector.
"Play it." He ordered his voice rough and deep.
Ranger sat back as the full impact of what he just watched soaked into his frazzled brain. She had routed out five conspirators and executed all the members of the plot to kill Ranger and to take down Rangeman.
No one had any clue any kind of sabotage was taking place but Stephanie had figured it out and had been caught and tortured for having the knowledge. They had sat back to see what, if any, action she would take and if she would go straight to Ranger or Tank with the damning information.
Raul had threatened Ranger if she had opened her mouth about any of it so she had taken matters into own hands and taken Ranger out of the equation by moving the danger onto herself and leaving everyone in Trenton and taking the fight to them in Nevada and Arizona, where she finally ended it all, making sure that they were all safe.
She had to have known that the compound she had raided was monitored and recorded and that there was a very real possibility of her not making it out alive. Everyone realized at once why she had trained with everyone so hard. Why she had asked for certain skills, for certain weapons training as they watched her systematically go through the grounds and house eliminating targets to get to her real goal of the traitors.
The door opened to the waiting room and Stephanie's parents stood there looking at everyone in shock. Helen led Frank over to a chair and sat him down as he seemed not to know what to say and she took charge in a way, Ranger or anyone else had never seen before.
"What's her prognosis? Is she still in surgery?" Helen asked looking straight at Ranger, knowing he would have all the up to date information concerning her daughter. Ranger had opened his mouth when they heard running feet thundering down the hallway. Two doctors and three nurses pushed in, rushing to Steph's bed.
Everything was happening at double speed: the bedrails pushed down, bed laid flat, medication injected into her IV, yelling vitals, and then the crash cart was pulled over.
That's when they figured out that Stephanie was in serious trouble.
"Call the code!" a doctor yelled and a nurse hit a button on the wall and a "Code Blue" announced over the loud speaker.
Tank grabbed Ranger's arm to keep him on his feet as his knees went out from under him and Helen grabbed his hand when they shocked her chest. Everyone's eyes were glued to the heart monitor as it showed the straight flat line. Ranger pushed everyone away and made his way to Steph's side.
Someone pulled Ranger away when they got her rhythm back and began pushing her bed out of the room. Jonesy caught the Doctor yelling to someone in the hall to have the OR ready that they had a possible blood clot.
Ranger dropped into the chair he had been sitting in earlier when he was waiting on the doctor to come and tell him what was going on with his Babe. Tank laid his hand on his shoulder in support.
"She's a tough cookie Ranger. She'll pull through."
Ranger wiped his face and nodded before he stood up looking at Tank.
"It's not your fault, you know? You can't stop her when she wants something bad enough." Helen informed them all as she looked out the window, her hand resting lightly on Frank's shoulder. Ranger made a dismissive sound making Helen turn to face him, face them all. The look on her face said she thought they were all stupid.
"You think I'm wrong?" she asked, looking at each face in turn leaving Ranger for last, looking him in the eye.
"You don't know the first thing about Stephanie or what she wants from life. All you know is your 'Burg' lifestyle, married, 2.5 kids, spotless house, and gossiping life. What do you know, huh? Nothing! She didn't want to get married, she didn't want kids, she just wanted to live her life how she wanted, to be independent. All you ever did was put her down, make her feel inferior to her 'perfect sister Valerie' and if she didn't kowtow to your wishes you would make her feel like she wasn't worthy of your love, doesn't that about sum it up, Mrs. Plum?" Ranger growled out at Helen as Tank held his arms to keep him away from Helen.
"I know my daughter better than any of you ever will." Her announcement had them all shaking their heads, "You don't' think I know her or what she wants? Why do you think I kept pushing Joe Morelli in her face so much, huh? His sparkling wit, maybe? Oh, I know, it's his charming personality, that had to be it. No, no, no it was his handsome good looks and great job, that's it. It's because he's a moron. Stephanie would never be happy with someone so stupid! Get your heads out of your asses! She could never love someone like that! She needs someone who challenges her, someone who will stand up to her, someone she will stand up to! Not someone who clips her wings. Not someone who only wants a robot to do what they want when they want it." Helen looked around at the family Stephanie had chosen to surround herself with. They were all alphas in one respect or another just like her.
"Stephanie is the best of us, the best of all of us, even you. Why do you think she hung on so long to a job she really didn't like all that much. You think she liked rolling in garbage, being covered in food, going after shoplifters and flashers? And you think I don't know my own daughter!" she exclaimed raising her hands up in the air like Stephanie does when she's exasperated, "No, she hates that shit! She does it to stay close to all of you. She could've been making a ton of money with Les Sebring but she stayed at Scummy Vinnie's cause he's family and she doesn't abandon her family, for anything."
"And you guys were in the military," she mutters under her breath, "It's called Reverse-Psychology, ring any bells?" she announced which made all the Trenton men take an involuntary step back at how Mrs. Helen Plum had out-smarted everyone, including the Burg.
She was behind Stephanie the whole time, cheering her on from the sidelines.
After Helen's bombshell, they all sat in chairs drinking coffee she had made, each man had a cup just the way they liked it without having to tell her, talk about being aware of your surroundings. She sat in the middle of Ranger and Frank grabbing a hand each when the doctor came into the waiting room.
"I'm sorry; we lost her on the table. She had a Pulmonary Embolism, mostly likely from the gunshot wound she sustained. We can give you a few minutes with her before we need to take her to the morgue if you would like." Everyone was frozen, unable to process what was just said except Helen. She stood, pulling Ranger and Frank to their feet speaking for them all, saying yes they would like to see her one last time.
The doctor led the procession of shocked, hulking men into a cold OR where Stephanie's body was laying on a table with a tube sticking out of her mouth and a sheet covering her to the neck. It was silent in the room, no noise, and no machines showing her heartbeat, no IV beeping telling of medication being injected into her system. It was Peace.
Helen walked up and brushed Stephanie's hair off her face and kissed her forehead, whispering her love, then Frank did the same. Ranger walked up to her and laid his hand on her chest right over her heart, kissed her forehead, nose and finally her lips that were misshapen by the tube still in her throat.
He leaned his forehead on hers, closing his eyes, "I love you Babe, forever and always. I will never stop loving you for as long as I live. You were the best thing that ever happened to me. I'll see you in the next life, Mi Corazon."
There wasn't a seat in the house for the Funereal of Stephanie Michelle Plum to be had. They had to have screens set up in the gym at St. Mary's Cathedral for over-flow. The Rangeman offices and the Plum house were covered in flower arrangements from everyone from the Governor of New Jersey to the hookers on Stark Street. Everyone loved her.
Helen organized the whole funereal from who was riding in what to who would sit where. Ranger and Tank picked up the Plum family and drove to St. Mary's, parking right behind the hearse, there would be no limo's at Stephanie's funereal.
Helen had a death grip on Ranger's hand and made him greet all the mourner's as if he was Stephanie's Husband, not the bad boyfriend he had thought himself to be. When it was time he seated Helen, Frank, and Edna in the front row and was stepping away when Helen grabbed him to sit in the seat of the widower, the aisle seat, closest to the casket.
Ranger had picked out Stephanie's casket himself, light metallic blue and had the whole of it covered in Sterling Roses. A large picture of Stephanie sat on an easel beside the coffin showing her in her black tshirt, black cargo pants, and Rangeman baseball hat with her hair pulled out the back hole. Her face had a small smudge of soot on the right lower jaw from something burnt and her hands were in her back pockets with a mile wide smile on her face making her blue eyes sparkle.
Ranger focused on her picture as the Catholic Mass finished and several people got up to give eulogies of Stephanie, including Lula and how Stephanie had changed her life, Sally Sweet, Vinnie and Connie but the most surprising was Valerie when she got up and spoke about how she wished she had been more like her little sister, not afraid of anything, how Stephanie would stand up for even people she didn't know, how she helped everyone from the richest to the poorest, they all deserved a chance according to Steph.
He had kept it all in until Angie and Mary Alice stood and started to play. Angie was playing the harp as Mary Alice started to sing Ava Maria. Helen slipped Ranger a linen hankie and he looked at her quizzically, not figuring out why until she swiped across his cheek to show him that he was crying at Mary Alice's sweet voice singing for her Aunt. Ranger squeezed Helen's hand back and nodded once, wiping his face quickly.
He stood, signaling that the others should follow. On the right were Ranger, Tank, and Hector. On the left were Ram, Lester, and Hal. Ranger laid his palm over where Stephanie's head would be and leaned down and kissed her one last time, then whispered the count of three. At three they all lifted her up.
To the angelic sound of Mary Alice and Angie they carried Stephanie one last time, out of the church.
Ave Maria
Gratia plena
Maria, gratia plena
Maria, gratia plena
Ave, ave dominus tecum
Benedicta tu in mulieribus
Et benedictus
Benedictus fructus ventris tui
Tui, Jesus
Ave Maria
Ave Maria
Gratia plena
Maria, gratia plena
Maria, gratia plena
Ave, ave dominus
Dominus tecum
Benedicta tu in mulieribus
Et benedictus
Benedictus fructus ventris tui
Tui, Jesus
Ave Maria
Ave Maria
Seattle, Washington
Immaculate Conception Church
"Ok, What do we have?"
"It looks like someone came in and killed Father Timothy and the man who was confessing, they are over here." The patrol officer pointed toward the confessional that was being taped off by the techs.
"Who found the body and can someone cut off Ave Maria please?"
The patrolman looked at his notebook, "A sister Mail… Male…. M-A-L-I-F-I-C-U-S. Malificus, I think is how you pronounce it." The rookie read from his notes then looked over at the Detective crouched near the bodies on the ground who started to chuckle. "Sir?"
"Malificus is Latin for 'Criminal' Officer Hodge. Ok, let's talk to this Sister Malificus. "
"She's right over…. She was right there, sitting in the pew." Hodge said pointing to the last pew in the church.
"Well shit." Detective Flowers said with his hands on his hips, and then crossed himself, looking at the empty pew. He looked back over to the bodies and back to the empty seat, then back to the two dead men. 'Well it couldn't hurt to look at the backgrounds of the murdered men, maybe something would come up that linked them with a woman masquerading as a nun'.
Two months later Detective Flowers found that the two men were part of a large ring of contract killers and would meet at the church every two weeks to exchange information, he closed the case as a cold one and never thought of it again, even though Officer Hodge found a nun's habit in a garbage dumpster two streets over from the church. He smiled as he stamped the file Cold in red ink and tossed it in a tray to be filed in the basement and in Trenton New Jersey a man named Carlos Manoso went for his morning jog when a blonde haired man bumped into him knocking him down. The jogger profusely apologized for not paying attention and helped him up then jogged away but not before slipping something into Carlos' Rangeman hoodie.
Ave Maria
Hans Schubert
(Version: Hitman)