A day with Bobby and Steph part 4
This chapter has been a struggle to write. My imagination has gone AWOL and it is only the encouragement of people who have left reviews that has made me get this together. It's a lot shorter than most and a bit on the rubbish side but it's the best I can do for now.
I am a little confused. I thought that people were enjoying interactive and funny bits, the chapter with Ranger and Slick have been the top reviewed and those involving serious stuff have been lowest reviewed. The last chapter I thought people enjoy as it was not serious and yet only 5 people reviewed out of the 215 readers.
Thanks to Angela3511 for her medical and English skills. Incidentally if you haven't read Stephanie's Great Escape you should give it a go.
Ranger POV
I was stood keeping an eye on the felon in front of me waiting for Bobby and Steph to arrive. It really is unfortunate that he isn't more careful going down the stairs and walking through doors. With his history, I wasn't thrilled with Steph being anywhere near him, but I wanted to show her that she is trusted in her new role.
When Steph came to me saying she wanted to work for Rangeman full time, I was relieved and pleased. Since I've known her, she has done many things to support me and my business. The early work she done was admittedly out of desperation on her part. I had admired her grit, determination and her unique methodology to capture the people she was after. Her lack of physical ability and technique were the biggest barriers she had to being successful. So I decided if she was serious about working for me, then it would be an opportunity to get her to work on improving her skills. While working on her gun and defence skills were high priorities, I felt that with her history, knowing how to do first aid would also be an advantage, either to fix those she damaged or to look after any injuries she got until help arrived.
What I hadn't expected was how well she would take to the medical training. When Bobby told me how well she had done in the training, I was pleased she could look after herself better. When I had my little accident and she jumped straight in giving effective and quick aid, I was proud and impressed. Bobby had been complaining for a while about not having enough time to do all his work and with her showing a great aptitude for the role, I considered that she might be able to assist Bobby. So far she's doing great.
The man, if you could call him that, was wanted for repeatedly abusing women, both physically and sexually. Now he understands how those women who were physically abused by him felt. I wasn't prepared to sexually assault him, and although I've done many things for my country, that isn't, and never would be, one of them.' I hadn't laid a hand on him, and neither had Tank; he really did fall down the stairs. Ok, so we did take him back up them a couple of times so he could repeatedly 'fall', but that's not the issue.
One of the injuries that he appears to have sustained is either a broken or sprained wrist. I tried to test it by manipulating it but that caused him pain. Of course, he would have felt whether it was broken or sprained. I was well aware of that before manipulating it.
A few minutes later, I heard a car pull up outside and a moment later the front door opens.
"Boss?" Bobby queried. "What happened?"
"Fell down the stairs."
"Hurt anywhere else or just the wrist?" he asked the skip.
The skip just glared at Bobby "Who's the little woman? She gonna play nurse for me?" He gave Steph a very obvious once over.
I took the safety off the gun still pointing at him. "One more comment like that and I'll shoot. Do not even look at her." I kept my voice quiet, deadly.
"What do you recommend?" Bobby looked at Steph. "It's either broken or sprained, is there an easy way to tell?"
"Not really in the wrist. Because of its makeup of so many little bones it can be difficult to feel for any fractures or breaks. It's easier to tell in other places where you could feel the alignment of the bones, but for the wrist the only way to tell for certain is by an x-ray." Her speech was quieter and less confident. She had taken a step back after the earlier comment and looked like she didn't want to be there. I hated seeing her like that and part of me wished Bobby had left her out of it entirely.
"We can either take you to A&E before taking you in or we can take you in and then they can get you checked. I think as you don't appear to be in too much pain as long as you keep it stable we'll get you booked in first. Steph, can you get me a cool pack and triangular bandage?" Bobby asked. Steph opened the kit and passed over the requested items, breaking the cool pack to start its reaction before handing it over. I watched as Bobby treated him.
He held the cool pack to the felon's wrist and got the skip to hold it in place while he unwrapped the bandage. He held the bandage so the longest side is vertical and the other point is towards his elbow with it covering the injured arm. He put the top corner over the top of the opposite shoulder then pulled the bottom corner up, carefully moving the skips arm away from his body so it could be brought up the other side. The then put that corner over the shoulder of the injured arm before tying the two ends together behind his neck pulling the sling up so it was supporting the arm and the icepack. He tucked the corner by the elbow in and checked it was all ok before turning and looking at me.
"Let's go," I said as I tucked the gun back into the holster and grabbed him by his uninjured arm. Steph walked out first, followed by Bobby, then myself and the skip. Tank locked the house up, not that it was worth it, and followed us out. Having one arm in a sling makes life a bit more difficult as it's harder to restrain him. I pulled some leg shackles out of the boot and put them on the skip. We helped him into the car; unfortunately he didn't duck enough and caught his head on the door frame. Oops. Tank then followed him into the back of the car, holding a stun gun to his arm in case he showed signs of playing up. I was tempted to do it anyway, he deserved it after what he said earlier.
Once he was secured, I went over to where Steph was stood watching. I pulled her to me and placed a light kiss on her forehead, lingering to breath in her scent. "Proud of you, Babe," I whispered to her before turning and going back to my car and getting in.
During the drive, I contemplated Steph's reaction, or lack of it, to the skip. It's not long ago that she would have flared up and had a go at him for the way he spoke to her, yet she had only taken a step back in reaction. I had noticed her quietness, but I doubt the skip would've known that he had gotten to her. She has come a remarkably long way in such a short time, I always knew she could and now she was getting the chance to fly, she was soaring.
Steph POV
I stood and watched as Ranger pulled away to take his quarry to the lock up. So far, today had been a bit odd. First, the conversation with Bobby and later with Cal. Both of them had offered me praise at my new skills and now Ranger and his "Proud of you, Babe". I'm not used to people being so nice. Usually I'm getting told what a screw up I am. I feel a little bit proud of myself and I've decided I will keep working with Bobby to improve. After everything Ranger and the Merry Men have done for me, it's nice to be able to give a little back and help them in their time of need. Knowing that I am able to help my family if every they need it is also reassuring. Maybe one day my mother will be proud of me too.
During my training I was actually taught that sometimes it's better to just leave the injured person to support the arm/wrist as to mess it around and put a sling on could cause more pain than it would prevent. If you've hurt your arm, you generally look after it pretty well without any help. That would be enough for most cases until the paramedics arrive or you can get the casualty to hospital. In this case I had him do it so I could tell you how to put it in a sling in case you do ever need to and because there would be an extended period before the skip can get to the hospital.
Also be careful with ice, wrap it up in cloth to avoid direct contact with skin. In some cases putting ice on a broken bone will cause a lot of pain, if this happens remove it immediately (obviously). Using ice will reduce swelling and relieve some pain (once the body gets over the short-term shock of the cold). Long-term, ice will help by reducing inflammation, swelling and pain. Use ice for the first day or so, for about 10-20 minutes at a time once per waking hour. After the first day, switch to using heating pads or warmth rather than cool to speed healing. Always listen to your doctor or other health care provider when you have a broken bone or a sprain/ strain.
