The Sun Always Rises
Chapter Two
Cody Hawkes rolled over to find a little foot in his face. He smiled and opened his eyes. His wife was on the other side of the little feet smiling.
"She can sneak into here better than you." Sarah whispered.
"She needs to learn to sleep with her head on the pillow." Cody chuckled. He pushed the tiny feet under the pillow and looked at his wife. "Good morning." He whispered.
"Good morning." She smiled. "How was your night?"
"Cold. Lonely." He brushed a strand of blond hair off her forehead.
"Benji doesn't let you spoon him on training trips anymore?" Cody shook his head.
"You're so not funny, woman." He looked into her eyes. "You know Benji likes to hog the covers." He leaned over and kissed her. "We headed off the mountain early." The little feet twisted and kicked him in the face. He shifted, got up and took the little dark haired girl out from under the covers and quietly took her into her own bed and tucked her in. He went back to his warm bed and even warmer wife to find her gone. He heard babbling coming from the baby monitor. Shaking his head, he headed to help Sarah with the twins. He was hoping for a little love before the sun came all the way up but the boys had different plans.
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"Jess please." Matt Hawkes sat behind his desk and pleaded with his sister.
"Why me?" She had her arms crossed over her chest and glared at him. It was too early in the morning to pick a fight but she hadn't had a good argument lately and this seemed like as good a time as any to start one.
"Because you have the know-how and the time." How could she argue with that? She hated when Matt squashed a good fight before it started.
"Why don't you come with me. Two people can get it done faster and then we can sneak up the mountain for a little skiing." There was some good fresh powder on Needle Peak. Matt looked at the woman across from him.
"The whole idea of you taking the training class is so I don't have to go." He really would love at least one run before the busy season. Jess was like a kid in a candy store when she talked about skiing. They had to teach a bunch of rookies from surrounding areas about what they did and when to call them for back up. It was an hour, maybe two out of the day. A good run down Needle Peak would do them both some good. "I guess I could put off the budget for another couple of hours." Jess smiled. She knew it wouldn't take much to make him see that they needed this.
"Meet you back here at nine." She grabbed her coat and headed into the kitchen and grabbed a cup of coffee before she headed out the door. It was a beautiful morning and it wasn't long before she walked through her front door. Derek was standing in the kitchen, talking and flipping pancakes.
"Your mama is on her way ladies. She is going to be so glad you both are up and raring to go. I will feed her and then the three of you can spend some quality time together while daddy catches up on the sleep you didn't think he needed last night." Jess hung her bag and coat up and went into the kitchen,
"Long night Ranger Morgan?" He looked so damn sexy standing there shirtless with a pancake turner in his hand.
"Oh, baby you don't know the half of it." The two little girls giggled and kicked in their bouncy seats. "Thing One decided two a.m. was the best time to have a complete and udder blow out. While I was dealing with that Thing Two decided she would projectile vomit her last feeding." Jess perused her lips trying not to laugh. "Then they both were hungry. I fed them burped them and then they decided that three a.m. is a good time to play with daddy even though daddy just got off a thirty six hour shift from hell." The whole time he talked in a chipper happy voice and was smiling like a crazy fool. "And do you know what Jess?" She cleared her throat.
"No, Derek. Tell me." He put pancakes on a plate and handed them to her.
"I wouldn't of changed one minute of it. "He leaned over and kissed her. "How was your night?"
"Quiet. Well not really. There were some poachers near the east meadow. They were after Baily and his family." She took a bite of her pancakes. "They made me run." Derek looked at her with a worried expression. "I was perfectly safe." He doubted his wife was telling him the whole truth but he knew better then to call her out on it.
"Good to know." He leaned over and kissed her. "What time is Devin coming today?"
"I'm going to meet her at the daycare at eight. I told Matt that I would go with him to do some rookie training in town."
"We don't have any rookies."
"Every six months the surrounding counties and the CHP send us their rookies to us to train in the three W's. What we do. When to call us. Why they call us." She took another bite of her pancakes. She closed her eyes as she chewed and swallowed. "These are some awesome pancakes." He smiled.
"Glad you like them." He looked at his wife. Her eyes told him what she wouldn't. She had a hard night. Jess would never admit she was scared to anyone, not even him.
"I had to leave Beckum to fend for himself. That damn horse just wanted to run up that damn mountain. We need to take a day and take both our horses on an overnighter before it gets too cold."
"Honey it's already too cold but if you want to sleep in a snowbank, I'm in." Jess smiled. She loved her husband more and more every day.
"You are such a pushover." She leaned over and kissed him. He took her in his arms and pulled her closer.
"Tell anyone that and I will deny ever even knowing you Jessie Lynne Hawkes." She laughed and put her arms around his neck.
"It will be just between you and me." The girls giggled and bounced at their feet. "Okay, you, me, and them." If every morning could be like this one.
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Matt Hawkes stood in front of a class room full of men and woman half his age. He remembered when he was fresh out of law school and working on his criminal justice degree and just wanted to make a different.
"My team now consists of twenty men and woman with varying degrees and back grounds. We have criminalists, phycologists, profilers. We have Rangers who have degrees in sociology, anthropology, communications, foreign languages, political science, meteorology, forensic sciences and those are the ones I remember." Matt stepped back and Jess stepped up.
"We speak a total of fourteen different languages. Η περιοχή Lake Tahoe έχει τουριστών από όλο τον κόσμο." The class looked utterly confused. "It is Greek for 'The Lake Tahoe area has tourist from all around the world.' Each day at roll call you will get a sheet." Jess held up a paper. "It will tell you several things depending on the day. During the week, it should have the direct number of the head Ranger for your shift. It will have a list of languages we can interpret. Unless they are on vacation or specifically request not to be paged they are on the list. We have one helicopter pilot on duty during our shift and one on call. If you have a bad wreck on the highway and you need another chopper we will back you up one way or another. Also on the list is our duty roster and our specialties. So, if you need a someone extra to tag and bag a crime scene, if we have a CSI on duty and we're not using him or her, you are welcome to give us a call. If you have an accident and you need an accident reconstruction, we are there for you." A man in front of her raised his hand. "Deputy Johnson?"
"If you have all this talent why do they have us?" Jess looked at her brother. Matt raised is eyebrows.
"You want to take this big brother?" He stood up.
"These mountains communities need law enforcement. The mountains cover two states. That's a lot of people. We originally started out as a mountain rescue team. Over the years, the Rangers we hired brought more to the table then just being able to repel down mountains. My dad founded the Rangers but over the years we built a team of experts. People who not only can repel down the mountain but predict if there will be an avalanche or blizzard. We still need each one of you on patrol to make sure people are slowing down so they don't go over a cliff and have to have us come and pull them up. I can't emphasis enough that we don't want your jobs we just want to make them easier."
"Just know we have your backs." Jess looked at the men and women in front of her. They were barley legal. She remembered when she was a rookie. She still felt like every call, every person she rescued changed things for the good. "Serve and Protect girls and boys…that's all we can do."
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Matt looked at his sister. She was lying in the snow making snow angles and giggling like a child. He shook his head and smiled.
"You are insane." He released his boots from his skis and loaded them into the truck along with his sisters.
"I think I am saner then I have been in a year." She boosted herself onto her elbows and looked up at the bright sunshine. "I needed that." Getting up, Jess looked at her brother. "Thank you, Matt.,"
"For what?" They loaded the rest of the gear.
"For giving me today." Jess leaned against the truck. "Is it wrong that for just that fifteen minutes I felt like I didn't have a care in the world."
"Sometimes we need that." They got into the truck. "I kind of felt the same way." He started the truck. "Let's make a pact. Once a month, we take one run down the mountain. I don't care if we have fake a budget meeting with the Sheriff to do it."
"Deal." Jess smiled. The day had been good. They took two dangerous men off the mountain, taught some rookies a thing or two and ended it in a run down the mountain. Smiling she put her sunglasses on and they headed for home.