Disclaimer: Not mine, not making money.

Posting three days in a row! You guys should feel special. Thank you all so much for your reviews and story favorite/follows. The reception of this story amazes me. I'm so honored that you all are enjoying it so much. Hope you all enjoy the latest chapter!

I would like to thank my biggest cheerleader, Kari, for her continued encouragement! You keep me writing, girl. I'm honored to know such an amazing person, even if it is just through FanFiction!

Chapter 10 - Answers

SPOV

Today was the day! I was going to get my answers to the questions that have plagued my mind all night. The more I thought about what happened yesterday, the angrier I got. What right did Joe and my parents have to make decisions for me? I'm a grown ass woman and I'm in charge of my own life, at least I thought I was.

Dr. Fisher, my psychiatrist, was the one who spoke to Joe and my parents at the hospital in Trenton. She'll probably be able to answer most of my question so I guess I'll start with her. My appointment time with her was scheduled for 10:15 am, so I had some time to wait before I could speak with her.

A doctor I hadn't met yet came on the ward and called me back to the treatment room. He introduced himself as Dr. Grimes and told me that he just needed to check my wounds. As he unwrapped the bandages from my arms I felt sick. This was the first time that I was able to see the extent of the damage that I caused myself.

Big ugly red marks went from my wrist up to the middle of my arms. The black stitches stood out in direct contrast to my pale skin. The cuts looked angry and hurt like hell, but Dr. Grimes seemed to think that they were healing nicely. He applied some antibiotic ointment and redressed them with thick gauze. He informed me that I have an order for pain pills if I thought that I needed them. The pain has never been that bad so I didn't think I would need anything for it.

The pain that I did feel helped me grasp the fact that I was still alive. It was kind of comforting to feel pain again.

After a few more generic questions about my health, the doctor left the ward and the aide, I think her name was Amy, walked me to the day room to participate in the morning exercise group. I figured I better do something to keep my self entertained so I joined in with the exercises. I still had about another hour to wait before I got to see Dr. Fisher.

When my appointment time rolled around, it was Jason who was scheduled to sit with me. I'm not sure why, but I was thankful it was him who was with me. He had such an open and caring personality. The little time we spent together yesterday showed me just who he is, and I kinda of like him. He likes to joke around and is constantly laughing about something. I think I feel so comfortable around him because he reminds me so much of Les.

Jason led me behind the nurses station to a big office that the doctors used for their meetings with clients. I took my seat in front of the desk and looked around nervously. I was so far out of my element and comfort zone, I didn't know what to do with myself. Dr. Fisher entered the office a few minutes later with a folder and a cup of coffee. She smiled big as she sat behind the desk.

"Ms. Plum, how was your first night with us?" The doctor asked right away.

"Please call me Stephanie or Steph. Ms. Plum makes me sound old. It was fine, no problems. Didn't sleep very well, but I guess that is to be expected your first night." She smiled again and nodded.

"Unfortunately, yes, that is to be expected. It doesn't help that you're on 1:1 and have someone staring at you while you're trying to sleep. If it lasts much longer, I can order a mild sleeping pill to help." She paused and I nodded in understanding. I knew I wasn't going to be taking a sleeping pill. I hated the way they made me feel the next day.

"Now, let's discuss a little about what brought you here. I have some information that I gathered yesterday from your fiancé and your parents, but why don't you tell me what the events were that led you to try to kill yourself."

"Okay, although I have a problem with you calling him my fiancé. I never agreed to marry Joe Morelli and actually broke up with him the day that all of this happened." I tried not to sound hateful or bitter, but I don't think it worked. She didn't look interested and simply nodded her head for me to start with my story.

I told the doctor everything that happened that day. I didn't hold anything back and it shocked me that she was so uncaring and calm about everything. Her face never gave up one ounce of emotion and there were some parts that she seemed like she didn't believe really happened the way I said. It was almost like she thought I was lying or trying to hide something. She would raise her eyebrow and write furiously on her pad of paper in front of her. Finally after I was finished, she stopped writing and looked at me.

"Stephanie, I understand that you had hard day." A hard fucking day? That's her diagnosis?

"After speaking to Joe, I think I know exactly what's going on with you. You're suffering from major depression and you have many symptoms of RAD, which is reactive attachment disorder. You've seemed to have formed some very unhealthy relationships because of these conditions and I'm here to help you break the pattern of bad behavior. You'll have sessions with Dr. Zakaras every other day and she will help you with the RAD problems. I have no doubt that she can get you over those. She is an excellent doctor. As for the depression, I'm going to prescribe a mild antidepressant. I'm hopeful that the depression will lessen once you come to terms with your attachment issues." She smiled big and began writing on her note pad.

I had no clue what she was talking about. Depression, I guess I could see. I wasn't happy all of the time, but I didn't know anything about attachment disorder. I knew I had some unhealthy relationships, the worst was the ones with Joseph Morelli and my parents. I was willing to end those the first chance I got. We sat quietly as the doctor finished up her notes and I realized I still needed to get some stuff answered. I shook my head to remove the stupor I was feeling.

"Um, I guess I can see the depression and I'll have to learn more about the attachment disorder before I can agree with you on that one." She smiled and nodded now it was time to get some answers.

"I have a few questions for you. Do you have time to answer them for me?" My polite burg manners never failed to show up at the stupidest times.

"Sure, I'll do my best to answer."

"Can you tell me how Joe got to be in charge of my treatment here? As far as I knew, my employer RangeMan held my power of attorney regarding my medical treatment." Her eyebrows shot up when I mentioned RangeMan. Hmmm, interesting.

"I can't answer that. Mr. Morelli had the correct forms signed by a judge so I didn't question it. He is your fiancé so it makes sense that he would be the one to care for you when you were deemed unable to care for yourself." Why does she keep calling him that? Didn't I tell her he means nothing to me?

"He's not my fiancé. He's my ex-boyfriend. How do I get my POA changed?" I was getting angry. "What did he tell you happened that day because I can guarantee he left out some pretty important parts?"

"You seem to be getting upset and need to calm down, Ms. Plum. Unfortunately there is nothing you can do about the power of attorney. You are considered incompetent to make your own decisions because of what you did to yourself. Mr. Morelli is willing to help care for you and you need to let him. He's a good man Ms. Plum."

Oh for fuck sake. Is this my mother in disguise? What the hell does she know about Joseph Morelli? I was annoyed and didn't want to go into rhino mode so I brushed off her comments and decided to let it go for now.

"Anything else I can answer for you today?" She was too damn friendly. I wanted to punch her in her perfect face.

"Actually, yes. I need to know how to make some phone calls. I looked for a phone to use, but didn't see one. I also would like to know if I'm allowed to have visitors."

"For the first two weeks you are ward confined while you are 1:1. No visitors or phone calls. No mail either. It's just our way to get the clients acclimated and used to their surroundings early on in their treatment. After the two weeks, of course you can have visitors, send mail and make phone calls. The client phone is located at the nurses station and all you have to do is tell a staff member that you want to place a call and tell them the number, they will dial it for you. Any other questions?"

I thought for a second. The phone thing sounded weird, but I guess it's just the way it's done here. Did I have any other questions? Not that I could think of so I shook my head and the doctor smiled at me.

"Great. Along with your antidepressant, I'm also going to order you an anti-anxiety medication, Ativan, for you to use when ever you feel yourself getting out of control. It will help calm and relax you. You just have to tell either the RN or the LPN that you need it and they'll get it for you. You'll get your antidepressant every day around 7:00 am, so make sure you're up for the medication pass. Thank you for meeting with me and I'll see you next week to discuss any issues you may be having."

She dismissed us from the office and I thought I would feel better after talking with her, but I didn't. I felt uneasy and unsettled. I didn't like the two weeks of isolation, but there was nothing I could do about it. It was policy for every new client. Feeling my unease, Jason smiled at me as he lead me to the day room just in time for another group. The last thing I wanted to do was play cards with people I didn't know, but I knew I had to attend these stupid things if I ever wanted to get out of here.

Thoughts plagued my mind again as I played poker. Well, I didn't really play. I essentially just folded every time so I had time to think about the information Dr. Fisher shared.

There was something off with her. She emphasized every chance she got that Joe was my fiancé. You would think that correcting her one time would be enough, but apparently she thought she knew best. It really bothered me that she acted like Joe was a saint. Even when I told her about the abuse and sexual assault. She even rolled her eyes a few times.

Her looks of doubt when I was telling her about that day are what kept running through my mind. Why would she think I was lying about what happened? She said she talked to Joe so he could confirm at least his part of it. Although I honestly doubt he told her the whole truth. My spidey sense was running crazy and I couldn't figure out why. I knew it had something to do with the good doctor and her conversations with Joe. I just couldn't put my finger on what was exactly wrong or what was going on. It was annoying the crap out of me.

It was something to think about for the next two weeks while I'm confined to this place. I needed the help of my Merry Men and had to wait before I could call them. That's fine. My mandatory imprisonment gave me thirteen days to think long and hard about a whole lot of things. Two weeks wasn't that long, was it?

Tank's POV

I have never been so angry at myself in my entire life. I didn't even think about putting guards on Steph's door while she was in ICU. We do it to protect the person who is unable to protect themselves, but since the danger to Steph was herself I didn't even think about it. Now, I have to face the facts that I fucked up and lost her.

When Santos, Brown and I got back to the hospital and found her gone, we did everything we could to find out where she went and who allowed her to go. No one would tell us anything. Not even Brown, who had personal contacts inside the hospital, could find out useful information.

The RangeMan attorneys were working on the medical POA situation. How Morelli found a judge stupid enough to cross Ranger was amazing. All of the judges in Trenton knew and respected RangeMan and it's owner. They did everything they could to support our company and often made our little indiscretions disappear. Whoever turned on us is going to pay. I hope they realize the shit storm that was coming to their front door.

The guys and I stayed at the hospital asking questions for most of the day. We finally gave up and only had a little bit of information. A former fling of Les' said she saw a private ambulance from Princeton Behavioral Hospital leave around the time that we suspected Steph was taken. That had to be her leaving.

We all left and headed back to the office. Brown closed himself into his office and researched the programs at Princeton and narrowed down where she might be. Les went directly down to his apartment. He was taking this whole thing the hardest. It was killing him not knowing where she is or what happened to her. He really does care about our Bomber.

I closed myself in my office and got to work on RangeMan business. As much as my heart wasn't in to working, I knew that it had to be done if the guys wanted to get paid this week. Damn Ranger leaving me all this shit to do.

My phone rang about 4 hours later. I was deep in a pile of expense reports and thanked whoever was on the other end for the small distraction. The attorneys informed me that it was Judge Anderson that signed the medical POA papers for Joe. He gave some sob story about being her fiancé and needed to care for her while she was sick. Her parents were even there and backed him. There is a special place in hell for those two worthless people. The only thing they did right was give life to the amazing person that is Stephanie.

Our lives would be substantially darker without her here. She's brought so much happiness to us big bad mercenaries and especially Ranger. I've known him for many years and I can't think of a time when he was happier. He has loved this little girl from the Burg since the moment he met her. I remember that night like it was yesterday. He returned from that first meeting smiling. I couldn't believe it. I hadn't seen him smile in years. After that, I knew it wouldn't be too long before they got their shit together.

Sadly it took 4 years for them to realize what was right in front of them; and just think, they almost lost the opportunity. I knew once Ranger got back and admitted out loud to Steph how he felt, it would take an act of God to get them apart. Their love was the forever kind of love. The kind you only see in movies or read about in stories. I was jealous about what they had and decided it was time to get my shit together and find the same thing. I, at one time, thought Lula was that person for me. But her dismissal of Stephanie last night was enough for me to forget all about her. You don't turn your back on your friends, no matter how mad you may be at them. Stephanie taught me that.

After getting the information from the attorney, I passed on the judge's name to Silvio in Miami for him to research. I wanted the works done on him and next to Steph, he was the best research analyst we had. It didn't take him long to get the information back to me. What I read didn't impress me. There was absolutely nothing negative. This judge was squeaky clean. I wondered how Joe got to him.

We spent the next few days calling every contact we had to get information on Morelli, the judge, and the hospital where Steph was staying. Sadly we got absolutely nowhere. Every shred of information we had led us to a brick wall. We weren't allowed to visit Stephanie, we tried calling the ward where we suspected her to be and we're told nothing. They couldn't confirm or deny that she was a patient there. It was freaking frustrating.

Les spent every evening driving to the hospital to try to get in to visit her, but was never allowed past the front gates. We were all exhausted but we refused to give up. We refused to turn our backs on the one person that loved us unconditionally. We kept digging and kept fighting, until Morelli called and shattered our world. Now, there was nothing left to fight for.

A/N - I realize that I left this at a terrible spot, but that's where the story led me. Unfortunately, you guys are going to have to wait a few chapters before finding out what Morelli called about.