A bleary eyed twenty-two Ranger Manoso answered the phone despondently, black satin sheets covering his waist down, leaving his bare chest in the air. He hadn't gone to sleep until late and the phone had woke him up not even an hour after falling into a dreamless slumber; all he could think was that the phone call had better be important.

"Carlos? Carlos Manoso?" The soft, feminine voice drove him out of his stupor and he straightened up more, the covers now completely off to reveal an army-gained build of dark skin and satin boxers. "This is him, correct?" The voice spoke again; calling back a night that had changed his life, the ones that made him a father. Had something happened to his daughter? He asked the question and the voice teetered nervously; she was afraid, he noted, as she darted the question and asked him to drive to her house.

Without a question he hung up the phone with a simple click, dressed in black clothing, and slipped his keys from the small dish into his hand before locking and leaving the house. He had been young and stupid when he had gotten a girl pregnant and he was never around for his daughter, not enough anyway, but he cared and if something was wrong, he wanted to solve it.

He arrived at the house an hour later, the beginnings of daylight creeping in through the trees framing the small but adequate home he had purchased for Rachel and their child. He pulled up by the garage and swiftly slid out of the car, knocking on the door and waiting. Had he felt more comfortable with his ex-wife, he would have simply slipped in but he barely knew the woman and she had sounded frayed on the phone.

After a few moments, the door slid open and a pretty but plain face stared out at him. "Thank you for coming all the way here Carlos," she told him in her soft voice, widening the door so he could step through.

"Is Julie okay?" he asked simply, arms folded. There was an air of awkwardness in the house that maintained even through the two and a half years they had known each other.

"Yes, but," Rachel paused and Ranger had the distinct feeling that she was afraid all over again and narrowed his eyes. "I'm getting married," she suddenly blurted out and Ranger lifted a dark eyebrow. He didn't understand why that would matter to him; there was no lost love between the two. "His name's Ronald and he's a year younger than me," she was babbling horribly; the only time he'd heard her worse was when she tried to tell him she was pregnant. The fact made him no less worried for his child.

"He's not ready for children." The atmosphere darkened immediately following the words, the tension thick enough to run a knife through and a silence followed, then…

"What do you want me to do?" Simple, quiet. Ranger wasn't much for speaking, even more so with such news. Rachel silently held out papers, her hands shaking as she did so. Ranger took them from her, careful not to touch the hand, and read the top of the papers. It was forms releasing custody of a child to the state. Ranger's face was blank as he looked back into the eyes of his child's mother.

He didn't love her, he never had, but he had respected the woman. She was strong and valiant, staying in school and graduating whilst taking care of a small child and not hating him, allowing him to visit whenever he was able. He'd never felt anger towards her, until now. In a brief moment, with these papers, she had shattered all respect. He handed the papers back, the signature line for the father still blank.

"I will not sign this," he told her. He could see the anger in her eyes flash and waited the storm.

"How selfish are you?" she hissed to his blank face, "you leave me with a child I didn't want – an accident – and then when I find an actual man who cares for me – not some baby army man who knocked me up – and you won't even do this for me? I don't want her, I can't stand looking in her face and seeing the mistake we made! You don't have to deal with her cries, her wants; you send money, make a visit and then check us off for the month!" Ranger didn't respond throughout her rant, waiting silently until she took a hasty breath.

"If you are unable to care for Julie, I will take her. Pack her things." He informed her, staring impassively into her brown eyes.

"I can't do that. You are unable to take the time to give her the care she needs, sign the paper Carlos." It irked him that she used his personal name, they had been married long enough for Julie to be a legitimate child but they didn't know each other well enough to warrant that.

"I refuse to give my only child to the state when I am physically able to care for her, if you don't want to have her, pack her things and she will go home with me." He stared at her, he could see the fear in her eyes but he didn't care. She didn't want the child, was willing to give her up for some man, fine, but damned if he was giving Julie to the state, she wasn't even two yet. Her mother might be able to abandon her but even with his minimal contact and carefully constructed emotional barriers, he was unable. He would die for his child.

He could see the battle raging in Rachel's eyes; the disapproval and doubt of him mixed with the sheer, disgusting desire to rid herself of the burden of motherhood. "Fine, I'll pack her necessities and her favorite toys and you can get the car seat." She left the room and Ranger went outside to her car. He briefly considered smashing her window before deciding it wouldn't be prudent for custody of their daughter and picked the lock instead. He had just finished re-installing the car seat into the backseat of his black SUV when Rachel appeared at the door frame, a large diaper bag in one hand with the other cradling the half-asleep baby.

Rachel looked him in the eyes as he took the child, "Don't come crawling back here when you can't handle it." He stayed silent as the baby passed into his arms, her short, dark hair tickling his arm as her brown eyes looked up at him sleepily.

"Daddy?" The word was slurred, barely discernible in her half-asleep baby voice but the curl of her body into his arms wasn't and he soothed her back to sleep with a gentle stroke of his hand across her thick head of hair. He placed her in the car seat carefully, folded the blanket over her, and placed the bag beside her before turning back to the woman at the door.

"I won't," he assured her. "I'll have my lawyer send the legal papers through the fax and you can move on with your life. You will never see Julie again." As he said the words, he knew he meant them. As long as he lived, he would not let Rachel near his daughter; a woman who could be so willing to give her child away did not deserve one. By trying to abandon their daughter she had insured she would never see her or him again. He got in his car and drove, the sleeping baby cooing in the back, and never looked back.

I'm relatively new and I just finished reading the twelfth one where Julie gets kidnapped and the thought on what if Ranger had taken Julie instead wouldn't leave my mind so I figured I would write this down and see what you guys thought. If you liked I was going to continue it when she's ten and Stephanie's around as a bounty hunter.