BUCKLING UNDER THE LOAD
BY CHARLI
The original characters of High Mountain Rangers belong to Robert Conrad and A. Shane Company with Sibling Rivalries. I only borrow them here and no profit is being made.
Thanks to the writers, producers, actors and crew for bringing them to life for all of us.
A/N: This story was meant to be a prequel to my story "I'll Be Home For Christmas". During the midst of writing it, it changed from what it had originally planned to be. Therefore, some changes needed to be made to "I'll Be Home For Christmas". I have included that short story here as an epilogue to this story. I hope you all enjoy.
Rating-I'm giving this an R rating, just for the cussing and mentions of adult situations. Nothing graphic.
/
CHAPER 1
South Tahoe Elementary School
"Matt, thanks so much for talking to our class for Career Day. Several of our kids are interested in Law Enforcement careers, and they need to know that options like the High Mountain Rangers are available to them, as well as the other Police Agencies."
Matt Hawkes, Commander of the Rangers, smiled and shook the hand of the teacher, Michael Cantbury. "Glad we could make it this year, Mike. Like I was telling the kids, our main emphasis is the Search and Rescue part of our job, but since we also have Law Enforcement training, and are federally funded, that makes us the top police agency in the area. Although we generally keep our policing confined to the mountain and leave the town and highways to other agencies better equipped to handle it."
The two men had once been classmates, walking the halls of this very school and in the nearby High School. Cantbury had also left town to go to college, but like Matt, he'd realized he missed the mountain and could use his teaching degree in Tahoe as easily as any place else. When Matt returned and became a member of the Rangers, he had rescued Mike's sister from a fall while rock climbing. When he stopped by the hospital to check on her so that he could complete his report, Mike had been there and the two men had renewed their friendship.
"Ranger Hawkes?"
Both men turned to see a young boy hesitantly standing nearby.
"Hi. You're Thomas, right?"
A grin spread across the boy's face at the fact that Matt had remembered his name. "Yes, sir."
Matt went down to one knee, knowing that his height often intimidated children. "What can I do for you, buddy?"
"Do you really think any of us could be a Ranger?"
"Sure, anyone can do the job with the right training. You gonna grow up and take over for me someday?" he asked with a grin.
"I'd like that!"
"Me too. By the time you're old enough, I'll be getting close to retirement. I'll need someone to take over for me."
"Will you come back and visit us again, Ranger Hawkes?"
"I'd like that. And you can call me Matt."
"I'd like that too, Ranger...Matt." Hearing the other kids outside, he glanced out the window. "I better go. See ya, Matt."
"Bye, Thomas."
The boy stopped. "You can call me Tommy."
"Ok. Tommy."
"Bye!" Tommy ran toward the door, then turned around. "Thanks, Matt. Your talk was cool." Then he ran out the door to join his friends at recess.
Matt moved back to his feet and turned to find a look of surprise on Mike's face.
"What?" Matt asked.
"You still have the touch, Hawkes."
"What do you mean?"
"Those are the most words Thomas has said since I got him in my class. He's generally really shy around people, especially tall males like yourself."
Matt glanced back at the door the boy had just exited out of and frowned. "Abused?" he asked quietly.
"Likely, though not here. He and his mom just moved here from Las Vegas. Mom doesn't like people prying into their business, but the scuttlebutt is that she left an abusive husband. So either he saw her get abused or he was a victim too."
"Bastard!" Matt commented about any man who would abuse their own family.
"Yeah. We have a few kids like that here, but not many, thank God." Mike smiled. "He really opened up to you. I'm glad to see it. I hope it's a turning point for him."
"Can't be easy going through all that and starting a new school too, at his age." He glanced at his watch. "Look, I really have to go."
"I'll walk you out."
Matt picked up a large plastic tub that held the give-away items the Rangers used whenever they did talks at schools and other groups, then followed Mike to the parking lot. They said their goodbyes as Matt climbed into the Ranger Blazer.
"Matt, thanks again for coming."
"Anytime. Let me know if I can ever help with anything else."
"I will."
The Ranger slipped the truck into gear and drove out of the parking lot, waving to a group of kids nearby as he left.
/
"Morning, Handsome." Matt turned to find his fiancée and fellow Ranger, Robin Kelly, standing in the doorway of the station kitchen. He smiled.
"Hey," he said, moving over to give her a quick kiss.
"I missed you this morning."
"Sorry. It was pretty early when I left this morning, thought I'd let you sleep in. I had to come back to the station to pick up some stuff before I went to the school."
"How did the kiddie talk go?"
"Fine. I like the younger kids. They seem to get more excited about it. The high school kids just seem bored with it."
"Cutler and Frank said they had some possible candidates from this year's class though."
"Yeah. We'll see if they still feel that way in two years, when they graduate. One of them was born and raised here, so is used to the mountains. The other is a city boy, but seems to have a good background in hiking and spelunking, so who knows." He grinned at the attractive blond beside him.
They'd worked together for several years before they started dating, mostly because Matt didn't want any relationship to affect his job. And once he took over as Commander, after the death of Merlin Pierce, he was even more leery, not wanting to deal with any issue that would come up since he was her superior.
But, inevitably, his heart decided it didn't want to wait anymore. They were careful to keep any displays of affection to a minimum while on the job and managed to keep their private life separate from their professional one.
"Matt! Your mom's on the line," Izzy called from the main room.
"Be right there!"
"How's Jackie doing?" Robin asked, as they walked together toward Matt's office.
"She's always tired. The doctor has been running some tests on her. She's supposed to get the results back in the next couple of days."
"I'm sure she'll be fine," Robin said encouragingly.
"I hope so," Matt said as he went into his office and closed the door.
Robin joined the others while they waited for Matt to give them their orders for the day.
Ten minutes later, Matt stuck his head out of his office. "Tim." When Hart looked up, Matt gestured for him to join him in the office. A couple of minutes after that, Matt left and Hart joined the other Rangers.
"Matt has some personal business to attend to, so he asked me to take over this morning. Frank, are you still doing maintenance on the bird?"
"Never-ending. But it shouldn't take more than an hour this morning."
"Once you're done, help Jim with the dirt bikes. Robin, you're with me this morning. Matt wants a check on the Tiek Canyon foot bridge."
Robin nodded. "Matt say where he's going? Is it his Mom?"
Hart shrugged. "He didn't say, but I assume so since he was just talking to her. He'll likely be gone most of the morning."
Everyone headed out to begin their chores. Izzy Flowers watched them leave and sighed. The way things were going, he'd forever be stuck monitoring the radio and brewing barely drinkable coffee.
/
Matt pulled up in front of his mother's house and saw her pull the door closed behind her and walk toward the street. She climbed into his truck and turned worried eyes toward her son.
"Thanks, Matt. I really didn't want to go see the doctor alone."
"It's okay, Mom. I'm sure it's good news," he said, trying to get a smile out of her.
"I don't know. If it was good news, I don't think he'd want me to come in to the office. He would have just told me over the phone."
"You know Doctor Connors. He likes to see his patients in person."
"Maybe." She turned her head to look out the window, but not before Matt saw the worried look in her eyes. He reached over and squeezed her hand, then pulled back onto the street.
/
"...thought it might just be all those long, graveyard shifts catching up with you, Jackie. But I'm afraid it's a bit more serious than that." They were in the office of Doctor Richard Connors, who had been the Hawkes family doctor since Matt was an infant. Although Dr. Connors was nearing seventy, he still practiced several days a week and Jackie had refused to be treated by anyone else at his office.
Matt glanced at his mother and could see the fear in her eyes as she turned toward him. He reached out and took her hand. She nodded and turned back to the doctor.
"What is it?"
"Tuberculosis."
She gasped and raised a hand to her mouth. "Oh my God! That's..."
The doctor stood up and moved around his desk, grabbing another chair along the way. He set it down on the other side of Jackie, turned to face them both. Then he sat down and placed a hand on her arm.
"Jackie, science has come a long way. Tuberculosis is no longer a guaranteed death sentence. Now, it's gonna be a fight, I won't lie to you. We haven't caught it as early as I would have liked. But we'll begin treatments right away and see how you do." He turned to Matt. "You'll need to be tested too, as well as anyone Jackie has been in close contact with." Looking back to Jackie, he smiled. "I'll need to contact the health department. With your job at the casino..."
She shook her head. "I haven't worked there for over six months."
"I didn't realize that. Well, then that narrows down the list some. You'll need to tell me of anyone you've had regular contact with in the last two months. What about Jesse and Cody?"
Matt shook his head. "They haven't been down off the mountain since Christmas," he said.
"Good, then we won't need to test them."
"Mom, what about Marge and Scott?"
She just nodded, shocked at the diagnosis. She felt the tears well up in her eyes. "Are you sure, Doctor?"
"I had them triple check it, just to be sure. I'm sorry, Jackie. I know this is not what you wanted to hear. We'll start treatments right away. I'd like to admit you to the hospital. But you'll need to go down to Sacramento. Barton Memorial is too small to be able to handle the treatments you'll need."
"When?" she asked, so softly both men had to strain to hear her.
"Today. The sooner the better."
She slumped against her son's chest. Matt wrapped his arms around her and just held her for several minutes. When she lifted her head, the tears were evident.
She shook her head. "I don't work anymore. How am I supposed to afford this treatment?"
"Mom, we'll worry about that later. Let's get the treatment started first and then we'll discuss the money. You know Dad will help, and Grandma and Grandpa."
"No! I don't want your father or Cody to know!" she insisted.
"How am I supposed to keep something like that from them?" he asked, incredulously. "You know they'll be down off that mountain in the few weeks. And they always come by to see you."
"Tell them I moved to Sacramento."
"Mom. Dad will never buy that."
"I don't want them to know, Matthew."
He sighed and nodded, not wanting to upset her any more than she already was. "Alright. For now, I won't say anything. But you know he won't settle for that."
She turned back to face the doctor. "Doctor Connors, this treatment, will I have to stay in the hospital or can it be done at home?"
"For the first part of the treatment, you'll be hospitalized. Depending on how well you react, it could be up to a month. After that the treatment can be done at home. But Jackie, I'm gonna have to insist that you not live alone. You'll be weak."
"Mom, you know I'll..."
"No, Matt. You can't leave your job." Matt could see her mind working. Now that she was over the initial shock, she was mulling over her options. He knew she'd made a decision when she turned back to the doctor.
"My parents live in Tempe, Arizona. They have a large house and a housekeeper. Plus my mother doesn't work."
"I'll check into the local hospitals there. Do you want to begin your treatments there, or start here in Sacramento and then head to Tempe when the initial treatments are finished?"
"You're just gonna leave?" Matt interrupted.
Jackie looked at her son and placed her hand on his cheek. "I can't do this alone, honey. Mom and Dad will be able to help, both financially and with the home treatments. I can't ask you to come to Sacramento, you have a job to do here. You know Mom is home all day anyway, and Lisa is always complaining that Mom never gives her enough to do around the house. I'll call them when I get home."
"Matt," Connors intervened. "Actually, I think the dry climate in Arizona might work in your mother's favor. And the lower altitude will make it easier for her to breathe. I think it's a good idea. I realize that it will be difficult for you with her so far away, but we have to think of what's best for your mom."
Matt stared into the doctor's eyes for a long moment before turning to his mother again. "I don't want you to go," he said quietly. "But I do want what you to get the best care possible."
Doctor Connors smiled. "I'll go make some calls. Why don't you use the phone on my desk and contact your parents. Let them know what's going on."
Jackie nodded but didn't move until the doctor left the office. She gave out a heavy sigh before she went to stand up, but her knees wouldn't hold her and she slumped back down into the chair. Matt caught her and pulled her close.
"You want me to call them?" he asked. When she just nodded in reply, he reached over and pulled the phone toward their side of the desk. With her reciting the number, he punched it in and waited for the call to go through.
"Lisa? Hi, it's Matt Hawkes. Are my Grandparents there?...Yes, I'll wait..." Jackie settled against his shoulder and he rubbed his hand up and down her arm. "Grandpa! Well, hello to you too...I'm doing fine...yes, still in Tahoe..." He smiled. "Yes, sir. I'm very happy with my job...No, haven't seen them yet, they haven't made it down yet this spring...Actually, I'm with Mom now, that's why we called...I'm afraid it's not just a social call, Grandpa...No...Yes, well you see, Mom hasn't been feeling well...yes, in fact we're calling from the doctor's office...Yes, she's pretty sick...Doctor said it's tuberculosis...I know...Grandpa, I know, but the doctor says it can be treated nowadays...I know."
Matt pulled his mother close and leaned his head against hers. "That's the thing, Grandpa. They can't treat it in Tahoe, she'd have to go to Sacramento..." He smiled at his Grandfather's response. "She was hoping you'd feel that way...The Doctor is doing that now...what hospital?...okay...yes, she's right here...why don't I give her the phone and I'll go find the doctor and give him this information...okay...I love you too, Grandpa..." Matt handed the phone to his mother and kissed her on the cheek.
"I'm going to go find the doc. Grandpa gave me his doctor's name and what hospital he's at. He wants Doctor Connors to fax all the information to him."
Jackie nodded and pulled the phone to her ear. "Dad? Oh, Daddy..."
Matt glanced back at his mother and felt the tears stinging his eyes. He hoped the doctor was right and that this could be treated. He wasn't ready to lose his mother just yet.
/