Disclaimer: The characters you recognize as being J.E. are hers.
This is a song-fic that answers the question of how Ranger and Jeanne Ellen Burrows are connected. The song is I Won't Let Go by Rascal Flatts. This is a one-shot only and is complete. Told strictly from Ranger's POV.
Ranger's POV:
I slid out of my car and made my way over to the group gathered graveside. She sat there stoic in her grief. It was hard to believe this was the same woman who six weeks ago was laughing and joking with all of us as we prepared for this latest mission. Watching her and Danny was a double edged sword. It did our souls good to see the love they shared; giving us the illusion we might someday have that same kind of love. The other side of the sword was this. We knew the price that love could extoll. This is why I had decided I would never do relationships. I wouldn't allow my past to hurt someone else as Jeanne was hurting now.
It's like a storm
That cuts a path
It breaks your will
It feels like that
You think you're lost
But you're not lost on your own,
You're not alone
My thoughts went back to the mission. A diplomat and his family had been kidnapped during a vacation and they needed a team to go in and get them out. Why the hell a man would take his wife and children into a war torn country on a vacation was beyond stupid. I was tempted to let the asshole rot, but his wife and two little children didn't deserve what those bastards would do to them. So we agreed to go. We'd gotten in and rescued the family. The wife and children did everything we asked, but the diplomat was a whiney bastard that refused to shut his mouth and Danny died as a result of his talking when we'd told them to not make any noise. One of the kidnappers had targeted the four year old daughter and Danny threw himself in front of her, saving her life. I'd grabbed Danny's body and we hightailed it out of there. When we got to the safe zone I laid Danny down so Bobby could look at him. Danny had grabbed my arm and asked me to watch over Jeanne. I promised him I would. Moments later his eyes closed never to open again. The diplomat started whining again, telling us we should just leave the body and get out of there. I stood, turned and punched him right in the face. While he was cowering on the ground I told him Danny's blood was on his hands.
I will stand by you,
I will help you through
When you've done all you can do
and you can't cope
I will dry your eyes,
I will fight your fight
I will hold you tight
and I won't let go
When we arrived back, I demanded to be the one to tell Jeanne. When I arrived, she took one look at me and dropped to her knees not making a sound. I'd gone to her and pulled her up so I could wrap her in my arms. She was devastated. I moved in for a few weeks. I held her at night when her grief got so bad all she could do was cry and rock back and forth. I made her eat even when she didn't want to. I drug her out for a run every day. I pulled her through life, making her go on. On the worst night, I gave her what she needed. Her pain was so great and she was caught in her own grief to the point she could see no future. I had gone to her when she cried out and found her with a gun pointed to her head. Once I got the gun from her, I wrapped her in my arms and held her. When she kissed me, I allowed her to take it where she wanted. The next morning she went to apologize and I told her it was all good. I knew I was substituting for Danny and I was good with that.
It hurts my heart to see you cry
I know its dark this part of life
Oh it find us all and we're too small
to stop the rain
Oh but when it rains
Over the next few weeks, Jeanne started living her life again. The one area she still couldn't get past was her job. She and Danny worked together for a security company. Danny being one of my guys had a military background and Jeanne had been a cop for five years. We sat down and I asked her what she wanted to do. After weighing all her options she told me she thought about being a bounty hunter. She just didn't know if she had what it took. I agreed to help her develop a workout routine and work with her on getting everything started.
I will stand by you,
I will help you through
When you've done all you can do
and you can't cope
I will dry your eyes,
I will fight your fight
I will hold you tight
and I won't let you fall
It took six months before I thought she was ready to fly solo. She had just caught a high bond skip on her own and was flying high in her success. We were sharing a meal, and suddenly she looked up at me and smiled. She told me it was okay; that she was okay now. I could go back to my life.
Don't be afraid to fall
I'm right here to catch you
I won't let you down
It won't get you down
You're gonna make it
I know you can make it
I headed to Miami to visit with Julie and spent time at Rangeman Miami. I spent several weeks there before heading to Atlanta and then Boston. I was looking for a new challenge. I invited Bobby, Tank, and Lester over and talked to them about starting up another Rangeman. We narrowed it down to two sites. One was Chicago, Illinois and the other was Trenton, New Jersey. I decided to check out the Trenton site first. The benefit of going to Trenton was that we could keep an eye on Jeanne. She'd taken a job with Sebring Bonds based in Trenton.
Cause I will stand by you,
I will help you through
When you've done all you can do
and you can't cope
I will dry your eyes,
I will fight your fight
I will hold you tight
and I won't let go
When I arrived in Trenton, I stopped in to see Jeanne. She was a different woman than the one I left a few months before. She had come into her own. She was even more confident about her abilities and good at her job. She insisted I bunk with her till I decided if this was the site I wanted. I figured I'd get a job as a bounty hunter and see what the town had to offer. She offered to get me a job with Sebring but I declined. I told her I would only do high bond and I wasn't taking skips from her. I took out the phone book and blindly pointed to a spot on the page advertising the bonds companies. Jeanne laughed and I looked to see why she was laughing. Vincent Plum Bail Bonds. I asked her what was so funny and she told me all about what she'd heard about Vinnie. I raised an eyebrow before putting my blank face in place.
Oh I'm gonna hold you
and I won't let go
Won't let you go
No I won't
I was looking at places in Chicago when I got a call from a Stephanie Plum. Seems Vinnie's secretary Connie gave her my number. I was curious so I agreed to meet her at a diner. I'd gotten there early to make sure I got the seat I wanted. I was still waiting when this 5'7" white girl walked in. She had a riot of brown curls and a kick ass figure as well as a beautiful face. What drew me in were her beautiful blue eyes. When she came over and introduced herself as Stephanie Plum, my whole world changed. I wouldn't know just how true that was till months later. When I got back to Jeanne's, I told her all about Stephanie. Jeanne just smiled and said it was about time I found someone. I just shook my head and told her I don't do relationships. She laughed harder and said oh yeah I was going down. It was good to see her laugh even if she was delusional. That night I called the guys to tell them Trenton was our spot.