Thank you once again for all the reviews. Janet, I plan on giving the characters back to you, later.

Chapter 3

As the doctor had suspected, one of the door guards slipped in a donut to Stephanie before his shift began. It was just past 4 am when he came on duty. The nurse at the station spied a brown bag peeking out from his jacket and checked her watch. Sally noted the time on the board. Darn, Marjorie had guessed right again. She seemed to have a special intuition when things like this occurred. She was getting a pretty nice shopping trip out of the deal.

Cesar put the bag on the side table and tiptoed out. Stephanie stirred and smiled. Her guys were looking after her. She looked around, reached over and grabbed the bag. She pulled the donut out of the bag, took her first bite and moaned. Cesar and Binkie smiled. They fist bumped and resumed their positions on either side of the door.

Binkie nodded that he had the door and Cesar slipped in to grab the bag and dispose of the evidence. Stephanie had her eyes closed but softly spoke. "I don't know what I would do without my family to watch over me. Thank you." She never opened her eyes preferring not to know in case she was grilled for a name. Cesar smiled and backed out the door.

Ranger walked toward the room. He had taken a two minute walk to stretch his very stiff muscles. He strode into the room, looked at Stephanie and a small smile peeked out. He went up to Stephanie and gave her a kiss tasting sugar on her lips. He could see a couple of multicolored sprinkles on the edge of her mouth and crumbs on her hospital johnny. He knew it was one of his guards but he was not about to drag it out of them who had snuck in the contraband. It would be their little secret.

He sat down in the chair again and they clasped hands. Stephanie was looking much better. They had discontinued the blood transfusions and she was scheduled to be allowed to sit up this morning. She was gearing up to petition an early release from the hospital and Ranger could already anticipate the back and forth between Dr. Evans and Stephanie. Ranger knew, as well as Dr. Evans that he would grudgingly approve the release later that day. Bobby was very efficient and she would get top notch care back at Rangeman. Possibly the whole hospital knew of Stephanie's aversion to hospitals in general, and this one in particular. There was its own version of the grapevine here and anything happening was instantly relayed to the Burg.

Morning found Stephanie sitting in an easy chair. She had eaten the hospital version of breakfast under protest and felt relief that she had consumed the donut earlier. She was waiting for Dr. Evans to make his appearance. She wanted out, preferably within the hour, but was willing to settle for later that afternoon. That would give Rangeman time to pack up everything and prepare to evacuate the private room and the waiting room down the hall.

As in the past, Dr. Evans listened to Stephanie's arguments and promises. She even resorted to pleading to be released. He smiled in spite of himself. She really gave good arguments any time she was anywhere near the hospital. He had no doubt that she would probably do only fifty percent what she promised, but pain would dictate her movements upon release. He finally took pity on her, reached into the big pocket of his lab coat and handed her her release papers.

Ranger headed for the door. He spoke to Manny who was now on duty and started the process for clearing out of the hospital. Barely one hour had passed and everything was running smoothly. One would normally be surprised at the speed, but enough members had been injured and hospitalized that there was a set protocol for discharge. Bobby was already ready for her to continue her recovery at Rangeman. He always tried to give her choices with respect to her treatment and this time being no different he had asked whether she preferred to stay in the hospital suite on four or up on seven. Not surprising, she had chosen their apartment.

Ella had already prepared the suite for an injured occupant. She had soups and soft foods in the fridge, extra pillows both on the bed and in the corner of the couch to support her when she felt able to make her way to the living room. There was a pile of movies within reach with Ghostbusters prominently on top. Louis had re-installed the grab bar in the shower along with a panic button within easy reach.

Zero had taken the wheel of the SUV with Brett as shotgun and Stephanie and Ranger sat in the back on the way to Rangeman. He had held her hand the whole way. Stephanie tried to reach around and unhook her seatbelt, but Ranger's hand was already there and the lock popped open.

"Careful, Babe. It's going to hurt getting out." Ranger jumped out of the back seat and was already around to the other side opening the back door. He scooped her up bridal style, carrying her to the elevator which was standing open. He tried to be careful of her damaged rib and leg, but any movement made her hiss in pain and sweat popped out on her forehead. She grasped Ranger a bit tighter as they headed for the elevator. They both knew that the elevator would stop on five automatically where the men would want to welcome her back, if only for a few minutes. She pressed hands as Ranger walked around the control room then back onto the elevator for the short trip to seven. The apartment door was propped open and Ranger carried her into the bedroom. He gently set her down near the bathroom and she walked in to do her business before walking gingerly to the bed. Ranger tucked her in and gave her a gentle kiss. Stephanie was looking exhausted and fell asleep before he could even walk out the door.

Bobby was waiting in the living room with Ella. Ranger walked out and Bobby took his place, checking her pulse, blood pressure and peeking under her bandages for seepage. He returned to the living room, nodded at Ranger and Ella and left. On the nightstand were pain meds, antibiotics and water with clear instructions on use.

Ella shooed Ranger out the door. He could head to five for a meeting with Tank, take out some stress in the gym or crash in his office for a short nap. Ella had brought up some ironing and would stay with Stephanie until she was relieved.

Stephanie woke up. She was feeling grungy. She desperately wanted a shower to wash off the icky hospital smells she associated with torture of the worst kind. Finding nobody around watching her every move, she gently flipped the blanket off herself and prepared to leave the bed. Removing the blanket did not hurt too much as it was the other side of her ribs that hurt, but the movement to leave the bed, or attempted movement sent waves of pain up and down her body. In spite of herself, she groaned. Ella appeared instantly in the doorway. She came into the room, waving her forefinger back and forth in a no-no gesture and spoke. "Stephanie dear, you need help so soon after your injuries. Let me help you."

With Ella providing much needed support, Stephanie managed to get out of the bed and into the bathroom. After doing her business, she looked longingly at the shower. Ella was standing by the closed door. She seemed to have ESP through the door and spoke. "There are lots of towels by the shower. I adjusted where the shampoo and body wash was so you don't have to reach. Do you want help or should I just stay in listening distance?"

Stephanie considered her options. Unfortunately, she would be unable to lift her one arm over her head and the t-shirt she was wearing was neither buttoned nor zippered. Also, there was the small problem of needing her bandages changed to waterproof ones. She sighed in frustration. She would need Ella's help.

Ella came in with all the medical supplies in her hand. Like Bobby, she liked to give her choices but knew that for a few days, she would be needing assistance, willing or not. Efficiently, Ella changed her bandages, then helped her disrobe. She turned on the shower and set it to warm but not too warm. She also put the shower onto a gentle spray so the normally hard spray setting did not pound her into the floor of the shower. Stephanie carefully walked in and closed the door. Unfortunately she would need Ella's help for her hair. Lifting up her arms to wash and rinse that wild mass of curls would take more energy and range of motion that she could handle right now.

Standing under the gentle rain shower, Stephanie revelled in its soothing nature. She was about to call Ella when the shower door opened, and a very naked Ranger stepped in. He turned her around and grabbing her favorite shampoo, massaged the shampoo into her hair, rubbing the pads of his fingers over her scalp gently. He backed her under the showerhead and rinsed out her hair, then poured conditioner into the palm of his hand and gently kneaded it into her hair. While it was doing its job, Ranger carefully washed her with the loofah sponge infused with his bulgari. It was all done with love and care. He then guided her back under the spray and rinsed out the conditioner and the body wash. He turned off the shower and reached out for a towel. He took the towel and gently dried her, tossing it to the floor of the bathroom and taking another to wrap it around tucking the edges in between her breasts. Ranger grabbed one more towel to squeeze dry her hair. One again it hit the floor and another one was in his hand. He carefully wrapped another around her head. Ranger then put one around his waist and tucked it in securely.

Ranger took Stephanie by the elbow and gently guided her back into the bedroom. There was a new t-shirt and panties waiting and he helped her into the shirt, doing all the work without her lifting the arm on her bad side. He helped her back into bed and headed into the closet, re-appearing moments later dressed in a pair of sweat pants that hung low over his abs. He had a shirt in his hand which he put on before climbing into bed beside her.

Ranger had a comb in his hand and carefully worked his way through her curly hair. He was careful and she hardly grimaced from any tugging as he combed her through.

She snuggled up to him and sighed. She had missed her Cuban sex-god furnace and hoped her hormones would take the shock of enforced chastity. She envisioned a lot of donuts for a couple of weeks, or at the very least, some of Ella's decadent desserts. She cursed Dr. Evan's rules about no physical activity beyond short walks for three weeks.

Stephanie played with Rangers abs, lightly drawing a finger over each rippled mass of muscle. She was deep in thought. Ranger watched her brow. Her face was so very expressive. She would never survive a game of poker or hold back a thought for long. He could tell something was bothering her. He waited.

"I messed up your take-down. Did you ever get your skip? I assume that Lula missed out on our bond too. She really needed it for her rent."

Stephanie drew more lines, almost hypnotically. Ranger's muscles twitched at the feather light touch. He found it extremely erotic and if she had not been injured, he would have upped his next moves by now. Instead, he lay quietly. She needed to finish her thought pattern or it would bother her until she could relieve her mind of the questions, and the what-ifs.

Finally, she finished her internal dialogue with herself and looked up at him. He took her hand in his. "While Tank and I were racing you to the hospital, the rest of the team took down both our guy and yours at the same time. They found Monty Scotland hiding behind a garbage bin and when he saw the guys practically begged to be saved and brought in. Lula already collected the receipt and has her money. We took down our skip, Larry Songstra and got him back in the system at the same time. Everything is good, Babe. Don't worry. Rangeman is picking up your skips for the foreseeable future, but Tank talked to Lula and she wants to start taking some on her own. She thinks with some back-up, she can be almost as bad-ass as you, but without your spidey sense. Tank's working on trying to get her to register at least one of her guns."

Stephanie nodded. She was sure that Lula was ready to start on her own. They had been partners for a number of years and enjoyed working together, but Lula took more pleasure in it now and for some reason managed to stay relatively clean by the end of the day. Something to consider.

Stephanie snuggled into Ranger's side. She lay her head against his shoulder and let her mind and body relax. Very soon Ranger heard her sleepy sounds coming out of her mouth. Even in sleep she made little murmurs of happiness.

He lay there thinking. How was he going to approach what he had had put into her body without her permission. They had finally come to the crossroads and there were yield and stop signs up ahead.

His window was closing fast.

Ranger is telling her tomorrow.