Thanks to Susan for the editing and quick feedback – I hope you had a great trip! All recognizable characters belong to Janet, the rest, including mistakes are all mine. Thanks for continuing to read!

A/N: character thoughts in italics.

Chapter 10

Lester watched his cousin's heart rate on the overhead monitor slowly start climbing. He really hoped that after these first 48 hours had passed, Ranger would be coming out of his coma. Rubbing his hands down his face, he leaned slightly forward to watch Ranger's breathing. Shaking his head, he muttered to himself "Not sure what's going on inside there cuz, but it's getting more response out of you than I've seen in a while."

Les frowned as the heart rate monitor started to alarm. His attention was pulled back to Ranger as he observed his cousin's arms and legs subtly begin to twitch. Reaching for the call button, he pushed it rapidly, then pushed it again for good measure. Hoping to get the nurse in here, he hit the button again, before jumping up, poking his head out of room and yelling "Hey! I think I need some help in here! Something's going down!"

xxxxxxx

Ranger's POV

Ranger opened his eyes and stared at the tiled ceiling of the Tasty Pastry. The overwhelming need to cry swamped him. What the hell? He heard the door jingle open and the sound of Morelli's voice call out, "You know I can't start anything with you now Cupcake, but thanks for one hell of a sendoff!"

The door slammed shut, causing him to flinch. He sat up as the hot tears of humiliation and frustration welled up and ran down his cheeks. Reaching up to push back his unruly curls that spilled haphazardly into his face, he caught his reflection in the glass of the pastry case. If he could have, he would have gasped. Stephanie's tear streaked face stared back at him. He saw utter despair reflected from her big blue eyes as the realization of what just happened sank in. He heard Steph's voice whisper to no one "I thought you said I was special. I thought you would make this special for me."

No. Oh please God, just no. I'll gladly go through Columbia again instead of this. I'm going to kill him. I'm going to rip him apart for doing this to her.

Ranger wanted to close his eyes and disappear but couldn't. He was bombarded with feelings of humiliation and shame, with the sense of feeling desired and being special to one of being replaced by overwhelming let down and rejection. The knots he felt in his stomach clenched tighter as he felt himself wrap his arms around his middle and rock himself for some semblance of comfort. Stephanie's thoughts of 'Oh, my God. The ass just used me for a booty call' flew through his mind, triggering a blind wave of hot anger and the need for revenge.

He willed himself to get up and hunt Morelli down so he could beat him to within an inch of his life. Instead, he rolled over to get up and felt himself straightening his clothes back in place. Propped up against the back of the donut case, he sat there with his head in his hands. No matter how hard he fought to maintain control, he still found himself sobbing quietly. Ranger found himself wishing he could walk into this bizarre dream as himself and pull his babe into his arms to comfort and protect her, but just couldn't shift the direction of the dream.

No more. Please no more of this nightmare. Stephanie…babe. He groaned inwardly.

Ranger forced himself to push past the feelings of inadequacy, humiliation, and pain. He found himself floating again, but the darkness didn't seem to be quite as comforting this time as the feelings of inadequacy and rejection stayed with him.

xxxxxxx

Lester leaned back against the far wall of Ranger's room and watched as the neurologist examined his cousin. The doctor finished shining his penlight in both of Ranger's eyes, then stood up and motioned for Lester to follow him out into the hallway. Passing Hal and Woody outside of the door, he nodded his head toward Hal, indicating for him to take his spot until he returned. Rapping on Stephanie's door, Les poked his head in and spotted Tank in the chair by the window laughing heartily.

"Hey man, something's changing with Ranger. You might want to step out and hear this with me."

Tank stopped and wiped his eyes. "No shit? I think Steph's waking up, man. Is the doctor out there? You might want him to come in here and look her over too."

After the neurologist finished examining Stephanie, he directed both Tank and Lester to the conference room on the floor. Grinning, the neurologist cleared his throat and made eye contact with each man. "Gentleman. It seems that Mr. Manoso may entering the early stages of resurfacing from the coma he is in. When the nurse called with the changes she noted earlier, I was extremely concerned we were seeing evidence of brain injury from his fall and the lightning strike in the form of seizures. After examining him myself and seeing the activity that was described to me, I have a strong suspicion that he is slowly regaining consciousness."

Tank frowned. "Doc, if he's regaining consciousness, why is it taking so long? Shouldn't he just wake up?"

The neurologist gave a half smile at him. "That's what the movies want us to think. It's much more dramatic that way, but unfortunately it's not how it happens. It could take days, weeks, or even months for Mr. Manoso to fully regain consciousness."

Tank leaned forward, placing his elbow on the table. "Well how do you explain what's going on with Steph?"

The doctor grinned broadly at him again, raising his eyebrows and shaking his head. "I have no explanation for that one. Miss Plum is awake, talking albeit some of what she is saying doesn't really make any sense at the moment to me. Maybe if you two talk with her it will. She is quite frankly a miracle in my eyes. We will need to watch her very closely for the next 48 hours, then she can possibly be dismissed to home if her physical status remains stable."

A collective sigh of relief was let out by both. The doctor stood. "If there are no other questions? I need to go back to my other patients".

Les and Tank agreed to swap rooms and returned to their charges after walking out with the neurologist. While Tank took care of notifying Ranger's family of the status updates, Les mentally girded his loins and called the Plums and updated them. He watched Stephanie become restless in the bed as her heart monitor began to alarm. Rolling his eyes upward, he sighed with his hands held up and said to the ceiling "What the hell? Am I on monitor patrol today or what? Come on…"

Lester leaned over Stephanie as he realized she was mumbling something. Trying to calm her down so that he could understand her, he gently started stroking her hair back from her forehead.

"Shh, shh, shh. Here now. It's gonna be alright Steph. You're safe," he whispered to her. He felt her body tremble and begin to twitch, then stiffen up. Her words became more forced, more painful to say, louder and laced with controlled anger. He jerked back with horror when he realized what she was saying.

"Sergeant First Class Ricardo Carlos Manoso, D4 2809977, August 28. Sergeant First Class Ricardo Carlos Manoso, D4 2809977, August 28. Sergeant First Class Ricardo Carlos Manoso, D4 2809977, August 28."

He was there the only other time he heard this said in the exact same manner. He sat down in the chair and ran a hand over his pale face. "Oh sweet Jesus. What the hell – no how in the hell?" he said to himself. He pulled out his phone and sent a 911 text to Tank and Bobby with the following message:

Houston, we have a BIG problem.

-tbc—

A/N: I'm hoping that I will be able to write and post a bit more frequently soon. My mother's health situation continues to be an ongoing issue at the moment, and I just survived closing out the semester for 2 awesome classes of future nurses. I want to take a moment to thank each person that has read, reviewed, followed, or favorited my story or me. I am truly humbled!