Thank you Janet for your amazing characters.
All mistakes are mine.
Chapter 14
Stephanie sat stiffly in the meeting room. She was surrounded by her care team and Ranger was sitting by the door.
The team were meeting to discuss her progress and they had called her in.
Her personal therapist looked at Stephanie.
"I'm pleased with how you've embraced your treatment and have tried hard to pass each checkpoint as it was presented. Your physical health has improved with the diet and your medications. Your team and I believe that it's time to discharge you to an outpatient status, stressing that you will need to continue to see Melanie as many times as she deems necessary."
She stopped talking and looked at Melanie who then spoke.
"Stephanie and I have had a number of chats and I believe I have a handle on her continuing care. She understands that this is a long-term situation and we will be seeing each other for the foreseeable future."
She looked down the line at Ranger and he stared back at Stephanie as he spoke.
"Stephanie has made the choice to move to Rangeman and take an apartment in our building. While she will be the only woman in the building besides our housekeeper, she has stated that she feels safe and the choice was hers as to the living accommodation. She and my second in command, Tank Sherman have discussed her working arrangements and until her health is deemed strong enough she will work on a part-time basis only, reporting to him.
After consultation she has agreed that our medic, Robert Brown will continue to monitor her health on a reduced and as needed basis. She has also taken the responsibility to work with our housekeeper to keep her diet in the parameters as set out by her dietician. At the same time, she has volunteered herself for gradual physical training to improve her health at a level that she and her trainer, Cal Griffin will mutually agree to."
He looked around the room at the members in attendance then at Stephanie.
"Stephanie is and has been an employee within my company for a number of years and she is very competent. I will take care not to put undue stress on her, but at the same time she needs to understand that I am the owner and my word is final on some rules."
Stephanie sat very still as each person had spoken. She looked up at the silence and they were all looking at her waiting for her to speak, or to contradict anything that had been pointed out. She shook her head and shrugged. Anything to get out of here she would agree to. Time would tell how it would work. Her hands were tied.
Unfortunately for her she needed a place to stay after her hospitalization and returning to her parents' place had been vetoed. Lula was living with Tank, and Connie had too small of a house to accommodate a roomie. That left an apartment at Rangeman. While she was not looking forward to having to be in contact with Ranger, she couldn't see any way past her situation.
Stephanie was back under Bobby's medical care and she had another cardiac specialist appointment booked for one month from discharge. She hoped that the results would be better this time. At the same time, she was not planning on any special celebration to earmark the event. That ship had passed. She would bide her time and assess her next move. Everything hinged on a positive report from Melanie and the positive assessment from her doctor.
Her discharge was booked for three days time and until then she was to continue the pattern that had been set.
Stephanie wondered who would be marching her back to Rangeman.
~~~o0o~~~
Lula and Tank were making plans. Long term and happy plans and while not giddy about the possibility, were at least quietly happy.
He had asked her on bended knee at their favorite retreat to be his wife. He was OK with her never being able to have children and truth be known, he had never felt the need to want them. Cats were his children and Lula, despite her allergic reaction to them without medication, had let them grow on her too.
She had commented that one kitten he had kept from his last litter certainly had a mind of her own and wanted to forge her own path in life. She had accidentally called it 'Stephanie' one day and had clapped her hand over her mouth. Tank had looked at her with a funny expression and had admitted that she also reminded him of Stephanie.
They both silently wondered how she was doing and what her future looked like.
Tank was mindful that she was going to be coming back to Rangeman but he had not divulged that information to Lula as yet. There had been a number of meetings dealing with the subject and while it could be a bit touchy for awhile, everyone involved resolved to make it as painless as possible for her.
She would be moving into a fourth floor apartment and Bobby would be her main care giver. He would take point in making sure she was attending any and all necessary appointments. He had been in contact with Melanie and they had agreed that some appointments were to be held in her office and some in a conference room at Rangeman. She wanted to observe Stephanie around the men and the environment.
He was taking responsibility for assigning her work and once again they had plans to set up a cubicle close to his office. They had all agreed that she might feel uncomfortable in the main working area, but it was pointed out that someone should really ask her opinion this time before assigning her workspace.
Cal had volunteered to take care of her physical exercise. She had related to him the next best, and he could gently cajole her to try to increase her stamina. Her doctor had stressed that the stronger she could get with cardio, the better it would be down the line if she had another medical set-back.
Ella was once again in charge of her diet. It was a continuing battle to keep her sugars down and her proteins up, giving her the best chance to recover as much as she could. But this time, they would work together on her diet. Ella volunteered to teach Stephanie how to cook some of the easier meals that she could put together and that too would make her choosing what she wanted to eat an option.
Ella had always cooked the meals for the men with healthcare in mind, but she was mindful that Stephanie would probably choose to eat most of her meals in the break room. Even with lessons it was assumed that she had no real desire to learn to cook much and would venture out of her apartment at mealtime.
She sat in the meeting and mentally wondered if or when Stephanie would actually talk to her nephew. She reasoned that they were wildly different dimensional characters and until they could agree to disagree it might be painful being in the same room. Ranger saw things on more of a global basis and Stephanie was more of a city block kind of person.
They hoped they were ready and wanted to be prepared just in case they weren't.
~~~o0o~~~
Joe visited his mother and grandmother with Sophia at his side.
They walked up the walk to both of his alternately loving and scary relatives standing at the door watching them come closer.
Joe smiled to himself. It must be a Burg thing, but this happened more than enough times to family and friends that they could never sneak up unannounced.
He gave a kiss to each cheek and held the door for his three women to walk in.
Sophia had been to the house enough and could smell the lasagna in the oven and her mouth watered. Angie made the best lasagna with lots of Italian sausage and cheeses and noodles. She could smell the fresh baking and hoped that they would be invited to supper.
She glanced at her watch surreptitiously and thought they were cutting it close. Too much sooner and it would have been too early and any later and it would have appeared that they were coming to mooch a free meal.
Joe watched as the Morelli women sat down across from them on the chesterfield. They sat with their hands in their lap and waited for their Joey to tell them why they were there.
His eyes gave nothing away but they noticed that Sophia had slipped her left hand into his and he had given her a squeeze, almost as if for strength.
Joe cleared his throat.
"Grandma Bella, Momma. Sophia and I have some news."
The ladies looked at each other and a smile peeked out.
Joe started again.
"Last night I asked Sophia to be my wife and she graciously accepted. Now, I know that you two want to immediately start to plan a huge wedding but we are both adamant that we only want a small ceremony. Just close friends and immediate family. If we opened it up, we might as well invite most of Italy along with the whole Burg and we just don't want that drama."
He stopped talking because both women had jumped up and had pulled Sophia out of her seat and were alternately hugging and kissing her and tears were flowing down all three women's cheeks. They admired the ring on her finger and hugged her again.
Almost as an afterthought, he was pulled to them too for a hug and a kiss and words like, 'it's about time, and we had prayed that she was the one'.
The sat down again eventually and Angie's hand inched to the phone but Joe shook his head.
"No Mama. I don't want to start getting phone calls yet. We have already made arrangements to have the ceremony next week in Sophia's parents garden. While it is quite large, we are only planning on using a tiny portion."
He looked at them and could already see the scheming in their eyes. He looked at Sophia and she shrugged. He had wondered just this very thing if they were making a mistake. Maybe a quick trip to Las Vegas would have been better under the circumstances.
Angie jumped up and headed for the kitchen.
"You must stay for supper. Please stay there and I will be ready in just a few minutes."
Bella also stood up and heading to the kitchen, she looked back and smiled at the young couple.
"Don't do anything I would do," and she breezed out.
Sophia put her head on Joe's shoulder and sighed.
"How much are you betting that the extension is in use right now with the news?"
Joe shook his head. He had been thinking the same thing. By the time they got home to either place the news would be all over. He reached into his pocket and turned off his cell and Sophia reached into her purse to do the same thing.
He had noticed Bella's slip of the tongue, or not.
~~~o0o~~~
Les stepped off the plane and there was Ranger waiting at the departure area to bring him home. They gave man hugs and punched each other on a shoulder as a greeting. Grabbing the bags, they headed to the car.
Ranger drove back to Rangeman as Les gave a quick description of his adventure. He looked really tired around the eyes but he was unhurt after the quick take-down.
It had been an almost textbook raid. They had swooped in and had surprised the security force without a shot being fired. Next, they were able to catch all the principal actors in a meeting and they too were captured without a shot fired.
They found most of the snatched workers in sleeping huts and had swiftly released them from their restraints. It took a number of vehicles brought in but all the captured men had been checked out by medics on hand and then plans were drawn up to return them to their plantations or those who were free were given the opportunity to go back to their place of employment or released.
The repercussions of the seizures would be covered up by the territorial government but it was safe to say that a major supply line had been severed and once again the receiver would have to pay fair market value for the goods.
The mine had been taken over by a conglomerate of companies in the territory. Until it was cleared through the channels they would all be running it with the eventual option of bidding for the right to add it to their holdings. Les suspected that it would take time and nothing would ever make it to the media.
Les had been thanked in private for his work and his detective abilities. He had graciously stated that it was a community effort to stop the ravaging of both workers and product.
He had contacted Veronica and given his notice, once again thanking her for allowing him to do his work under cover of running one of her holdings. She had sounded much weaker than when he saw her and reading between the lines, he had some doubts that her treatments were keeping the cancer at bay.
He wished her well and she stated that if she needed a favor she would call him. He had immediately given her his personal cell number in case she had misplaced it and declared that she could call anytime.
Ranger waited for him to finish his summary of his mission and remained silent. Les quickly picked up on his reserve.
He cut to the chase.
'So, how's Beautiful? I assume by now she's bouncing around and as healthy as she can be. I don't see any bags under your eyes, man, so you two must be getting some sleep."
He winked and sat back.
Ranger cleared his throat and Les got a bad feeling. Had those two screwed up things again and were in an off-period? Had she left him to go back to Morelli since he continued to deny that they were in a relationship?
Ranger had the radio off and he drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, a sure sign he was agitated.
"Stephanie has had some challenges since you left. She basically went off everything that was keeping her healthy and dumped Rangeman, hiding out in her parent's house until she had abused her body medically and lost consciousness. She was rushed to the hospital and has been under their care since then.
As a matter of fact, she will be discharged tomorrow and will be moving back into a fourth floor apartment."
He kept his eyes on the road and listened as Les sucked in his breath at the news. Not being in the loop at all for six months he had heard nothing of the struggles nor the after effects.
He found himself wanting to ask questions, but not. He really needed to talk to Bobby. Bobby would tell him what he could and he had such a way that he could give information without really abusing the patient/caregiver code.
The rest of the trip was made in silence.
Les climbed out of the car in the garage and waved at the camera. He was just tired enough and jet lagged enough that the open elevator drew him to its' interior and he noticed that when the door closed five lit up.
Ranger had taken the stairs and almost beat him to the floor, but as he emerged from the stairwell, he could see that the men had surrounded Les and were giving him handshakes and back slaps or fist bumps.
Tank stood back with Bobby. They would meet afterwards and have their own celebration later. It was nice to have the Core Team together again. He had been missed with his sense of humor and his silly pranks around the office.
Gradually the crowd thinned around him and he moved to Ranger's office with the three trailing behind.
They closed the door and did their own greeting complete with another noogie from Ranger. It seemed to be a new family tradition and he was looking forward to seeing the family at the acreage on the weekend. His parents had been contacted and they knew he was back on US soil and were eagerly awaiting his visit. The whole Core Team had been invited and his mother had made sure to remind him to invite Stephanie.
They sat down in their usual chairs and relaxed. Comfortable silence emanated from the group until Les spouted out.
"OK, so what the hell happened to Beautiful? When I left she was happy and just starting to heal. Did she relapse or was something missed?"
Everyone looked at Ranger and he shook his head.
Bobby took pity on him and spoke.
"Steph thought she was further ahead in her recovery and received some news that it was taking longer than expected. It set her off that she would never regain her former health and what was the use in trying and basically dumping everyone at Rangeman, left and headed to her parents house where she eventually holed up in her room.
Bobby took a breath. That long, very long sentence had put into a nutshell the major points.
Les looked around and noticed the grimace on each mans' face.
Bobby elaborated even more.
"We couldn't get access since she refused to see us and until she had abused her system so much that she fell unconscious we were unable to do anything.
Since Ranger has her medical proxy he invoked it and she was put in a psychiatric assessment unit to heal both medically and emotionally. She has been progressing and is scheduled to be released tomorrow but the case team refused to allow her to return home and start it all over. She needed to work and a place to stay so she is moving into a fourth floor apartment."
He took a quick breath and continued.
"Tank is taking responsibility for her working, and I'm in charge of her medical assessments and primary care. Ella is back catering to her diet and Cal will take on her physical training to continue to build up her stamina."
He looked around.
"You know, she hasn't seen Les since he left and she might not feel he is up-to-date on what she is going through. I think we should have Les pick her up and bring her here. He's not a threat to her and they do have a special rapport."
He looked around at the others and they all slowly nodded. It was a good idea and each person had gone through the entire staff wondering who would be best to pick her up. They had originally thought of Hector but he still tried to make people believe that he only spoke Spanish.
There was a silent vote and they nodded. Les was going to pick up the Bomber.
This should be interesting in more ways than one.
A/N -Thanks to purple 22464. She said it better than I could have about 2 and 3 dimensional people.
Myrna