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Ranger POV:

After the workout, horse play and shower I finally was able to focus on what we needed to do. I walked out of the locker room and found Hawk waiting for me. He told me that everyone had gone to the media room. I followed down the hallway back towards the stairway leading up stairs. Instead of heading up the stairs he kept going forward down the hallway to the first door on the left and went in. Inside the room was huge just like the rest of everything down here. It reminding me of what you would see in a movie theater. Rows of chairs set in a slight decline with a huge projection screen in the front of the room. However, these weren't your normal chairs. They looked like recliners. Looking over I noticed Les and Bobby both reclined with their feet up nursing a couple of beers. Steph was resting against Bobby. Tank was sitting next to JJ having a whispered conversation so not to interrupt the movie for the others. On the screen was playing a movie that the guys liked to watch often. Swat. I think the only reason they like to watch it is because of the guns, explosions, and Michelle Rodriguez.

I looked to Hawk standing next to me and asked if we could pause the movie for a minute. He nods and walk off.

Just as the screen froze and the lights come up I heard all the guys groan and a bunch of "aw come on man!" shouted around. I had to grin at the fact that the screen was frozen on a shot of Michelle standing there in the middle of beating the shit out of a punching bag. I had to agree with the guys. She's a good looking woman. Looking at her on the screen, she reminds me so much of Cat while we were in highschool. It seemed like she was always working out in some shape or form. Dark brown hair pulled back into a braid, deep chocolate eyes so focused on what she was doing, hands wrapped up to protect them, black sports bra and a pair of work out pants. I used to get so turned on just watching the way her body moved. All the muscles contracting and releasing with every move. Skin the color of a golden brown in the winter months. Showing her latin heritage. Dark chocolate colored during the summer with her tan. I shook my head to clear my thoughts and get down to business.

"Alright guys its late lets hit the racks. Hawk will show each of you to your rooms. We have a lot of ground to cover tomorrow. I need everyone here to be fully rested and ready to work in the morning. I expect to see everyone in the gym before breakfast to work off any tiredness and to get the blood flowing so we have our heads on straight. After chow time we'll meet up in conference room we were in earlier where you'll each receive your orders. Dismissed!"

As they all started to leave the room behind Hawk I stopped Les. He looks at me questioningly. I know he's asking what I need. "I'll probably end up telling Steph a little more about Cat tonight." He nods his approval and looks over to where she's standing waiting for me. "Ya that's probably a good idea. She deserves to know some of it if not all. If you need me you know how to get a hold of me. Good luck man. I know its gonna be rough on both of you." I nod my thanks to him and he takes off to catch up to the rest of the group.

I turn to JJ and ask where we'll be crashing. "You guys are gonna bunk together?" he questions. I nod my head, "Ya, for tonight anyways. We need to talk about some things." He nods his agreement and heads for the door. I look to Steph, "come on Babe. Lets head to our room and then I think we need to talk. There are some things I need to tell you about. If after we're done you don't feel comfortable with sharing a room with me I'll understand and have JJ show me to a different room." I hold out my arms for her and she walks over to me and wraps her arms around my waist and we head to our room.

Continuing down the hall away from the stairs JJ says over his shoulder "this is the barracks wing. The name is self explanatory. There are three bedrooms upstairs on the main level but those are reserved for myself, Cat, and Cole. The rest of the men stay down here. There's a total of 30 rooms. All of them are identical. Very basic." We walk into the room and I notice that it is just as JJ said. Your typical basic barracks room. This brings back memories from my time in the Army when I was first starting out. The room help a desk and chair along one wall. A tv and small fridge up against another. A queen sized bed, a double closet and a door finished off this room. The door leads into a bathroom with a shower, toilet, sink and a closet that I would assume is holding towels and other small necessary items.

Steph walks around the room checking everything out and says "you weren't kidding when you said very basic." JJ chuckles a little at her response. "Well, when you have a compound the size of ours you have to draw the line somewhere when it comes the expenses. The guys that live here permanently are allowed to change up anything in their rooms as they see fit. However, most don't because they don't feel its important enough when so little time is actually spent in their room. It becomes nothing more than a place to sleep."

JJ motions me over to the desk. "If you need something just picking up the phone will get you directly to the command room. If you need me directly before morning hold down the pound key before picking up then hit 77 and it will ring right to my phone." I nod my understanding to him and he walks to the door wishing us a good night and said he'll see us in the morning probably in the gym.

After the door was closed behind JJ I turned to look at Steph. I can see she's nervous. She's twisting her hands together and looking at everything in the room just to keep her eyes off me. I walk over to her and grab her hands. I pull them to my lips and give a gentle kiss to her palms. "Come on Babe. Lets sit on the bed and I'll tell you a little bit about my past with Cat." She looks up at me and nods her head. "Alright, give me just a minute to use the restroom first." She heads towards the bathroom. I know this is her way of stalling a little bit. She does that whenever its something big that we have to talk about. I'm sure she's nervous about what I'm going to tell her. With how my reaction to JJ's news earlier and just how I've been acting all together. This isn't normal behavior for me. She's never seen me lose my focus and control before.

I sit on the bed while waiting for Steph to finish up in the bathroom. I wonder how and what I should tell her. How much will be either enough or too much. As I'm trying to figure this out the bathroom door opens up and she walks out and over to the bed. She crawls up the bed and sits against the head board mirroring my position. She smiles up at me and says "alright Ranger I'm ready I guess. What do we need to talk about?" I smile at this. She's trying to be brave and not let her insecurities show. I know her well enough though to see and know that she's a nervous wreck. I pick her up, settle her in between my legs and lean her back against my chest. I leaned my head down to kiss the side of her head and just breath her in. I pray this won't cost me my best friend. I inhale deeply and let it out slowly. I'm still not sure what to go about this story but I figure I'll take a page from Steph's book and just jump in with both feet and hope to swim instead of sinking.

"What I'm about to tell you is hard for me to tell anyone. So please bare with me on this. You know I'm a very private person. I don't tell anyone things about my past. The only ones who know what has gone on are the ones who were there with me during those times." I pause trying to think of how to start. Steph nods to me that she understands that I'm trying to tell her not to take it personally that I've never told her much about my past. I take one last deep breath and start the tale of how Cat and I met.

"One day, when I was about 9 years old momma sent me to the store to get some small groceries. The store was just down a couple blocks from our house. As I was nearing the store I crossed in front of an alleyway. Movement caught my eye and I stopped to see what it was. I walked into the alley and saw this little girl curled up in a ball on the ground next to a dumpster. I walked closer to her and noticed that she couldn't have been more than 5 maybe 6 years old at most. She was just this tiny little thing all curled up and dirty as could be. She must have noticed I was there because she lifted her head and looked at me. I took a step closer and asked if she was alright. She just stared at me and scooted back as if she was afraid of me. I wasn't sure what had happened to her but could see hear fear in the way her body was shaking. I put my hands up and told her I wasn't going to hurt her but would like to help her instead. She shook her head no and stood up. She stood there and stared at me and I wondered if maybe she didn't speak English so I asked again in Spanish. When she didn't answer me again I wasn't sure what was going on. So I asked her if she understood me. She shook her head yes so I began asking more questions."

"Do you have a home?"

Shook her head no.

"Do you have parents?"

"Again shook her head no. I couldn't understand how she could not have parents. She was so young where were her parents? Why didn't she have any? Did they die? Did they just leave her? I had so many questions for her but I figured it would probably be best to just go with a simple one. Since she seems to be on her own she was probably hungry. Momma had sent me with a little extra so I could get a treat. If she's hungry I'll use that money to buy her something instead. So I asked."

"Are you hungry?"

"She nods yes. Good."

"Follow me into the store. My momma sent me to get some groceries and said I could get a treat. I'll get you something to eat and then you can come back home with me. My parents will know how to help you."

"She shakes her head no rapidly. Then turns and runs away down the alley. I yelled for her to stop as I ran after her. I didn't want her to run away from me. I wasn't sure why she was. She turned a corner and by the time I reached the corner she was no where to be seen. I didn't know where she disappeared to. So I went back to the store. I knew that if I didn't hurry up and get back home Momma wouldn't be happy with me. I figured I'd would just come back tomorrow and see if she was here again. So I went to the store and got all the things Momma asked for but I didn't get a treat. I just put the extra in my pocket to save for later and went back home."

I stopped to take a drink of water from the bottle I grabbed before I sat down on the couch. Then continued on with my story.

"Late that night at bedtime I laid awake in my bed. I replayed everything in my head that happened from the time I met that little girl to when she ran away. Trying to figure out what I did wrong and caused her to run away from me. I wasn't a big boy by any means. I was tall but on the skinny side. So I didn't think it was my looks. I tried to remember everything I said to her but couldn't see where that went wrong either. I couldn't figure out what happened. I started to get scared for her. Being out there all by herself. In the cold of the night. Before I fell asleep I promised myself I would find her and take care of her no matter what I had to do. She needed someone to look out for her. I cried myself to sleep that night with that promise on my mind."

"For the next two weeks I made some excuse to go to the store or in that general area. I would walk down to the alley and look for her. But she was never there. I walked that alley and a couple others around it searching for her but she wasn't there. I would cry myself to sleep every night not knowing what happened to her. Where was she. Was she ok. Was she able to find something to eat. Those questions plagued me constantly."

" Then school started and I didn't have time to go down there. I would go to school and then straight home because my parents demanded from us kids that right after school you came home and did your homework before starting your chores. It was the following week, three weeks after I first met her that I saw her again. "

She was huddled up underneath a picnic table in the park by the school grounds. I was on my way to school when I saw her. I walked over slowly and sat on the ground about ten feet away from her. She looked up at me and her eyes went wide. I said hi and asked her if she remembered me. She shook her head yes. I told her I was sorry I scared her the last time and that I didn't mean to. She shook her head no so I wasn't sure what she meant with that. I told her that I worried about her ever since that day. Wondering where she was. I told her I was on my way to school but I didn't want to leave her now that I found her again. I offered my lunch bag to her and she just stared at it. Like it was going to jump out and bite her or something. I told her it was ok she could have it. That I wanted her to have it.

She slowly reach out and took the bag gently from me. She reached inside and pull out the apple that was in there and handed the bag back to me. When she looked up at me my heart broke. She had tears in her eyes. As I was looking into her eyes I heard a very faintly whispered "thank you" pass from her lips."

I took another drink of water trying to bring myself back to the present from my memories of that time. Still to this day it pains me the way I had found her. I looked down at Steph and noticed she had tears in her eyes. I gently wiped them away and kissed her on the top of the head before continuing again.

"I asked her if I could stay with her for awhile and she shook her head yes. A cool breeze came up and I saw her shiver. I took my jean jacket I was wearing off and passed it to her. She was hesitant at first but finally did take it as another breeze chilled her more. I asked her if we could find somewhere else to go and she nodded yes to me. So we headed off towards the store where we first met. I sat down on the ground with my back against the wall and patted the ground next to me. She was hesitant to be close to me until I told her I wouldn't touch her I just wanted to talk and by sitting next to me I would block any cool breezes that might come up. She seemed to accept that and sat down next to me. Close but making sure not to touch.

I knew she was still afraid of me but could tell she was starting to trust me. So we sat there side by side and I told her about myself. My name, how old I was, where I lived. I told her about my older brothers and sisters, and about my parents. Even at that age I never talked much about myself. But that's what I did all day long. I sat and told her about myself while she just listened. The whole time she held onto that apple with both hands like it was a life line."

"Before I knew it, I heard the bells from the school ring and knew I had to get home so I didn't get into trouble. I told her that I had to go but if she wanted she could come with me. She shook her head no. I think she was still too scared yet. If she wanted I would meet her back here tomorrow morning again. She nodded yes. I stood up and she was about to give me my jacket back when I shook my head no. I told her she needed it more than I did. I wanted her to keep it. It wasn't much but it was something at least. She whispered thank you again and I just smiled at her. As I was about to turn to leave the alley I noticed she had a small smile on her face as well. I knew from that moment on I would do anything I could to keep it there. To help her and to protect her. I felt a connection with her that I had never felt with anyone else before. I ran all the way home thinking of what I could bring her tomorrow. I really wanted her to come back with me but didn't want to push and have her run away from me again."

"After I was sent to bed I laid in bed thinking of what I could fit into my backpack to give to her in the morning. I decided on a set of my clothes, a blanket, some food and a bottle of water. I was gonna ask her to come back with me again but if she wouldn't then I would leave those items with her. I quietly packed up everything and crawled back into my bed. That night for the first time in I went to sleep happy."

"The next morning I was up bright and early. I double checked my backpack to make sure I had everything ready. I headed off like any other school day towards the school but changed direction about halfway there to head towards the alley to meet up with her. When I got there she was huddled up in my jacket sitting right where she was the day before. I sat down next to her and placed my backpack in front of her. I told her it was for her but that I really wished she would come back to my home with me today. I told her that if she didn't want to come with me then I would go home tonight pack another back pack and I would come stay with her. At least that way I knew she was alright and I could keep watch of her and keep her as safe as we could be. She shook her head no again. I let out a sigh and continued to talk again just like the day before.

At some point during the morning she had pulled out the blanket and wrapped it around herself. She had also scooted closer to me so that she was no leaning against my side. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders to hold her closer to me to keep her warm and safe. It seemed like she liked to listen to me talk so that's what I did. I held her close and continued talking about anything and everything I could think of. I heard the school bells ring and knew that our time was up. I didn't want to leave her. It felt like I was leaving a part of myself here. I told her I had to go and begged her one last time to come with me. When she didn't answer me I stood up to leave but she reached up and grabbed my hand. I looked at her and she nodded her head yes. I couldn't remember ever being as happy as I was at that moment. I knew my parents would take her in. Let her stay with us and give her all that she would need. I picked up the backpack slung it over my shoulder and we headed towards my house. The whole way there she walked about a step behind me but held onto my hand just like she had the apple the day before."