Challenge # 65: An Argument
Author: PTBvisiongrrl
Title: Ranger's Little Girl
Rating: PG-13; may change
Spoilers/Warnings: None.
Disclaimer: I only borrow, I do not own….
This is the first part of a longer story idea that was sparked by this week's challenge. As I have hit a cement wall, inspirationally speaking, on my current story, I will probably continue this one for now, if there's some interest. Don't worry- Steph will appear shortly!
Chapter One
"She says she doesn't want to see you."
"What?" Ranger bellowed. "I'm her father!"
"Ric, calm down." His ex-wife's voice, tense and tired, made him hesitate in his parental meltdown. "She doesn't like me much right now, either. According to her, we're both members of the military-industrial complex, responsible for the present crisis situation in the world, and she wants nothing to do with us."
"How am I part of the military-industrial complex anymore?"
"Th fact that you were once Special Forces is enough for her. It doesn't matter when or why you left. And I work for the State Department- which is worse in her eyes than a soldier taking orders, because I help create the orders!"
"She's twelve years old! Who taught her how to say 'military-industrial complex,' much less explain what it means?" Ranger ran his free hand through his hair, dislodging the leather tie holding it back. It fell loose and in complete disarray as he paced- rather, stalked- across his living room. "And aside from that, I'm her damn father. Tell her that she will be on that plane next week, and that she will be staying with me. She is NOT going to that boarding school, and she is not living with your sister. Your sister probably started all this shit."
Marta cut off a retort. She and Ric may have been divorced for many years, but they usually got along well where their daughter was concerned. "Madeline is not to blame here. Ana probably heard some of this from her aunt, but she wouldn't be spouting it at us if there wasn't some other, underlying problem already bothering her. She's just displacing her anger; we need to figure out what she's really mad about."
Muttering under his breath about the good old days before Ana could talk, Ranger mumbled an agreement. "But I can't figure out what she's really mad at, if she won't even talk to me."
"Let me give you my thoughts," Marta began. Ranger braced himself; Marta always started conversations she knew he wouldn't like that way. "She feels ignored. Again. She hates when I have to travel for work, even if it's only for a few days, and when is the last time you got away from work for a weekend to come see her?" Ranger could hear Marta shifting the phone, probably cradling it against her head with a shoulder while she made some noise going in to a kitchen cabinet. "I'm leaving for a whole frickin year, to the middle of a battle zone, and she's getting carted off to Trenton, where she's going to feel like she's intruding on you're life. She doesn't feel wanted."
"How can she think that I don't want her?" Ranger bellowed again.
Marta flinched. "Is this how you talk to her when I'm not around? Because this type of yelling is not conducive to persuading her to open up."
Ranger mentally calmed him self and restated, in a much lower and calmer- although no less emotional- voice, his questions. "How can she think that I don't want her?"
"Ask her." Marta. "But do it in an e-mail, That's the only way she'll talk to us warmongers these days."
"She won't speak to you?" Ranger asked incredulously. "And you let her get away with that?"
"What do you want me to do, hit her?" Marta asked, exasperation with both him and the larger situation apparent in her voice. "This has been going on for two weeks. I've tried yelling, grounding, taking away things- nothing has worked. I've even tried tears."
"This is going to get worse when she's a teenager, isn't it?" Ranger asks, a real feeling of fear forming in the pit of his stomach.
Marta chuckled. "Hell, yes. Wait until its about a boy you don't like and not just your job."
"I don't want to start thinking about that yet." Mentally he shuddered. "So how should I handle this?" Marta knew Ana much better than he did; given the nature of his work, he usually only saw Ana at holidays and for a couple weeks each summer. Not the best arrangement, but he comforted himself with the knowledge that Marta was a much better parent than he was, and that all his hard work gave his daughter a very nice life.
"E-mail her. Then let me know what she says." Marta sighed. "I've got to go. I hear my cell phone- it's my boss…"
"Okay; I'll e-mail her and call you tomorrow. And Marta- be careful while you're over there." Ranger let the phone fall into the cradle. His usual control went out the window when it came to Ana, even more so than with his Babe. Ana could just push his buttons without trying. "Why couldn't she have been a boy? Adolescent boys I understand. Girls- shit, I don't even understand women of a supposedly rational age."
Tank entered the room, a crooked grin spreading across his face at Ranger's last comment. "Talking about the Bombshell, Ranger?"
Ranger shot him a look; if Tank wasn't such an old and close friend, he might have been intimidated. If anything, Tank was only more amused. "Ana's pissed at me. She doesn't want to stay here while her mother's in Iraq."
"She can't want to go with her!"
Ranger shook his head. "No, she's pissed at Marta right now, too."
"Then where does she want to go?" Tank asked, confusion evident.
"I dunno." Ranger sighed, scrubbing his face with his hands. "It was an argument by proxy, because Ana refuses to talk to either of us right now."
Tank snorted. "I am so glad I'm only an uncle."
Ranger gave Tank an envious look, pulling out his lap top and logging on to e-mail his daughter a carefully worded, what-the-hell-is-wrong missive. It looked like the next year was going to be very long.
Ranger was not any happier after his e-mail or the next discussion with Marta. Marta's advice was to go along with the ridiculous terms Ana had given him for her appearance and stay in Trenton.
"Public school? I'm not letting her attend public school!" Ranger had raged over the phone. "And what is wrong with having a bodyguard follow her? She's in more danger here than in Miami!"
"She doesn't want to live her life based on the money you've made off of the MI complex, Ric. She wants to be like any other girl her age." Marta switched into that voice again- "If you want my thoughts, she-"
Ranger cut her off. "Tell her I'll remember her protest against my money when she's sixteen and wants a car."
"Ric!" Marta scolded sharply. "She's trying to establish an identity unique from us, and what's further from us than some peacenik? Plus, it really irks us. If we love her despite these shennanigans, we must really love her. She's looking for reassurance."
"There's a reason you're a diplomat and I'm a mercenary." Ranger sighed. "So she's testing me?"
"Us." Marta momentarily covered the mouthpiece and Ranger could hear her voice muffled, talking to someone about action reports and scenarios. "I'll just be thousands of miles and a war away. You'll be on the front lines for while."
"Before you go, help me figure out how to negotiate her into a private school?"
Marta laughed. "Of course, Ric! What you need to do…"
