Thanks for reading and reviewing. This is a short chapter on purpose. All mistakes are mine.

Chapter 10

Tank and Lula drove toward the Plum house. Lula wanted to see for herself what was happening and Tank was shaking his head and trying to prepare her.

"Lula, she won't see anyone. She'll use the bathroom and then slides back into the room. She takes a tray if it's left at the door, but it usually comes back out either not eaten or very little. She is a grown woman and we can't force her to let us in. Unless she's deemed unconscious, we cannot by law invade her privacy."

Lula pursed her lips. Nothing frightened Lula, much, but hearing about her best friend felt like someone was stabbing her in her heart and twisting. As they pulled up to the house, she could see Edna waiting outside on the porch. Stephanie had always wondered what sixth sense her mother and grandmother had that they knew she was coming over. Well, unless there was a camera, it appeared that that radar was now encompassing them all.

She clamored out of the car and walking to Edna, enveloped her in a big hug. Edna, who cared not for what the neighbors thought, gave her a big hug in return and a kiss on both cheeks. She looked horrible herself and her eyes were clouded in worry.

They entered the house and Lula looked back at Tank still standing at the curb. He shook his head at her and climbed back into the Hummer. He knew that if Stephanie knew he was in the house, she would not accept anybody. Maybe Lula could knock some sense into her.

Edna dragged Lula to the kitchen and sat her down, placing a piece of coffee cake in front of her. Lula smiled and picked up a fork. She was pretty much off sweets, but one of Entenmann's coffee cakes, well she would make an exception.

When there were only crumbs left on the plate, she stood up. Edna stayed in her chair.

Lula walked out of the kitchen and climbed the stairs. She was unsure how this was going to go, but she had to try.

Lula stood at the closed door. The tray from morning breakfast was still laying by the door, untouched and cold. She noticed that there were pancakes and strawberries, and coffee already mixed. This was probably Stephanie's favorite meal.

Lula raised her fist and pounded on the door, almost scaring herself.

"Skinny White Girl. Open this door right now! I waited three very long months to see you and I'm not leaving until you open this damn door. If you don't, I'm a gettin' my gun and blasting a hole. I'll pay Frank back when I get the money, but I swear I will."

She waited and finally heard a shuffle and then what sounded like a chair being dislodged. The handle turned and the door opened. It was very dark in the room and Lula cleared her throat before entering.

The room smelled. Cooped up smell, unhealthy smell, all those smells that don't belong in a bedroom.

Lula walked in and closed the door. She felt around for the light switch and turned it on. Stephanie was once again laying in bed and Lula could only gasp in horror.

She looked bad, not just bad from unkept hair and dirty clothes, but her color was way off. She had a very unhealthy pallor and her lips were blue. She was laying in bed under a number of covers and she appeared to be cold as she was shivering slightly. Her face had a sheen to it that might point to a fever.

Lula walked to the bed and sat down on the edge, taking care not to sit on her. She couldn't help it and put her hand up to Stephanie's face and felt moisture. Was it tears or was it fever?

She didn't speak for a moment, trying to control what she said next.

"Girl, you're not looking so good. How 'bout I call someone and we can get you back on the road to health here?"

Stephanie shook her head. Her voice appeared to want to betray her so she waited, almost to gain strength before she talked.

"No. I'm where I want to be. Now that you've seen me, you can leave. I'm happy you're out now Lula. You deserve a good life and I'm happy for you."

Lula reared back like she had been shot and her mouth took over.

"Oh no, you're not going to get away this easy. There are a whole lot of people who are worried about you and care about you very much. You think you're doing this only to yourself, well let me tell you lady, everyone is wandering around with hang-dog expressions and worried about you. Looking at you, I can see that their worries are justified. You are skin and bones, your lips are blue and you're coughing. That means pneumonia or very close to it."

Lula spoke again.

"I talked to Bobby. It was only a minor set-back and yet you took it for a life-changing diagnosis. He figured that you would have passed all the doctor's checks with two more weeks of care. He thinks he failed you and Stephanie, he worked so very hard to get you where you were. And now you do this to everyone who loves you and wants you to live?"

She harrumphed as only Lula could.

"Girl, I'd shake you but I'mma afraid to break something. I'm seeing someone who's decided to check out, who's letting the bad guys win. I never, NEVER thought I would see you bow to that. Before you used to have that 'never say die' attitude and now all I see is someone who just wants to die."

She spied envelopes on the night table and picking them up, she flipped through them, finding her name on one.

She looked at Stephanie still laying there in the bed.

"If this is what I think it is, after seeing you in this state, I would burn it and never read it Stephanie. I don't want to know what you wrote to me. I can only guess you would have in it that 'it's not my fault', or 'I didn't want to hurt you' or words to that effect. Well, lady, I'm not buying it."

She took the envelope and flung it back at Stephanie, hitting her on the back as she stomped out, slamming the door behind her.

She marched down the stairs and out the front door, not looking to the right or the left and walked to the truck. Wrenching open the door, she climbed in, slamming the door closed. Tank was looking at her as tears were falling down her cheeks.

She waved her hand and said, "Drive, just drive."

Lula sat on the park bench and looked out at the pond. Tank had driven around passing her facial tissues as each one before was discarded in the vehicle waste container.

He waited for her to speak. Her face had been angry and scared, sad and concerned all at once. He had done as she asked and having turned off both the radio and the tracker inside the vehicle he let her begin to compose herself as he drove along.

Tank knew that when she was ready she would tell him what had happened. Had she seen Stephanie and if so, how did she look?

Bobby had implored him to let him know if Lula was able to see her. From all accounts that he had gleaned from Helen, Edna and also Frank, she was coughing and it sounded like it was a wet cough, a sure sign of congestion in the lungs. Her heart was not capable of pumping properly with that condition and at best her heart was not capable of much as it was. Having stopped with any exercise or a proper diet, or even the meds she was on was a sure path to increased problems.

Tank wondered if all the research Bobby had looked at would be useless now. Would she even be strong enough for a Mitra Clip, was she looking at a heart transplant, or were they too late for any of it? His own heart clenched in fear.

He watched Lula as back at Rangeman Ranger looked at his own computer screen in his office. Ranger knew that Tank and Lula had been at the Plum house from the tracker in Tank's vehicle. Ranger sighed as he flipped off his screen and stood up. He was heading for the gym, again. His hands were still bruised and red from the last bout with the heavy bag and Bobby silently handed him gloves as Ranger passed him. Ranger looked at them and shook his head. He needed the pain right now to keep him on track because that was about all he was hanging on to.

Notwithstanding that she had dumped him with the thought of saving him the pain of watching over her, she had also dumped all of the men of Rangeman. Some had muttered that if that was how she felt they were done worrying about her while others knew deep in their hearts that she felt that by distancing herself from them this was was her way of trying to get them to move forward and to forget her. She had never wanted to rock the boat or want special attention and had always felt embarrassed as they had alternately come riding in to save her or assist her being bigger and stronger and scarier.

She was such a difficult person to really get to know. She loved everyone for who they were and yet, as she tried to maintain a good working relationship with them based on ability and desire, she refused to really open up to them about her own personal wants and desires. Her emotions were open book as far as they were allowed but there was that certain reserve that popped up now and then to make the men wonder if who they were seeing was the real Stephanie Plum. She tried not to overstep her bounds on their personal and professional lives and not once had she ever pried into their personal business, instead waiting and excited if they opened up to her.

No access to her, no news about her condition and certainly no idea of her continuing battles with enemies had made them jumpy. Now would be an excellent time to catch her when she was down. While the streets still called her 'Manoso's Woman', there had been a few niggling rumors that she was now free from under his protection and it wouldn't take much to target the house, or her family, or her.

Tank was in charge of scheduling but he could tell by the GPS trackers that there were enough drive-bys by Rangeman vehicles on each shift that the men were still watching and observing the Plum residence. Nothing had been said or needed to be, but it appeared that there was always a Rangeman vehicle close by, just in case.

Tank drove into the garage and Lula was sitting beside him in the passenger seat. They parked far enough down the line that it was too dark to see Lula's complexion.

Both Ranger's and Bobby's phone rang with a text. Lula had some news and wanted to share her information with the three of them. She didn't want anyone to know she was there and didn't want to stay long.

Both Ranger and Bobby responded immediately that wherever she wanted to meet they would be there. They headed down to the garage and climbed into the Hummer and it sped back out of the garage. The tracker was still turned off and the automatic recording device was manually disconnected.

Tank pulled onto a side road just outside of the edge of Trenton and turned off the motor. They all had a clear view of the surrounding landscape and would be able to see if someone was approaching.

Lula tried to compose herself. She had another tissue in her hand but hoped that she was all cried out, at least for a few minutes.

She turned around in her seat and with her back to the side window she began to speak.

"I threatened to get a gun and shoot my way in, and she finally took the chair from under the handle and let me in. As you suspected, she has not been eating and you can tell by the hollowed cheeks. What concerned me even more than the cough, which is wet by the way, is her eyes. They are literally dead looking. She has lost her spark of life, her will to survive and whatever makes Stephanie cope when all else fails."

She touched the edges of both eyes again with the tissue before once again speaking.

"She's got a fever and by the amount of the blankets in there, she's probably on the verge of something serious. She doesn't go to the bathroom much according to Edna so that probably means that she's not drinking enough so she doesn't have to leave the room."

Lula took a deep breath. This next part was the hardest to say.

"I saw a pile of letters in envelopes on her night table. I saw one for me and called her on it saying that if she died I was going to burn it without reading it. I'm sorry but I got mad and told her that it probably had something stupid in it like 'it's not my fault' and some of her other favorite excuses. I got so mad then that I stomped out of the room and out the house and told Tank to drive away."

She burst into tears again and sobbed onto Tanks' shoulder as he held her.

He looked up at the rear-view mirror at his friends and shook his head. It appeared that Stephanie had made her decision and while that was her decision, it would impact them all.

Ranger looked completely stricken and Bobby could only mutter and shut his eyes. She wanted to die and there was nothing they could say or do to change her mind.

Bobby nodded in resignation. He wanted to find Jessie to hold her and never let her go. He looked at Ranger. The person he wanted to hold had cut him off and wanted to die.

A/N - a hard chapter to write.

Myrna