The rhythmic sounds of a woman's heels walking across the floor piqued my attention. She was wearing a pair of form-fitting jeans that hugged every curve of her petite body, along with a sweater that was cropped a couple of inches above her flat well-toned abs, and a pair of leather high heeled boots. She had skin two shades darker than mine. Her thick, long ,black, wavy locks framed her pretty face, flowed over her shoulders and down her back. The dark eyed beauty scanned the room searching for someone as she balanced a drinker holder containing four cups in one hand and two bags of food in the other. Gracefully she spun on her heels, looked at me, frowned ,then rolled her eyes and exhaled a groan. This was not the usual effect I had on women. The young woman turned around on her heels again and walked over to the man sitting across from me.

"Lester, right ?", She said.

"That is me and who would you be lovely lady"? "Have we met"?

"I was just here, but Bobby did not get a chance to introduce us formally I'm Meena Patel".

Lester's eyes slowly roamed her body, scanning every inch of Meena, as a sly smile played at the corners of his lips.

"You… ah, look…,taller now", he said as he licked his lips.

"Taller, yeah right that is what you were thinking huh", she laughed as she dropped one of the bags hard into Santos lap before handing him the drink holder.

"Where is Bobby , do you know where I can find him"?

"Last I Checked he was in the truck, you know where it's parked "?

"Yelp," she said as she took two cups from Lester and walked toward the door.

As Meena walked away she paused and yelled out, " Enjoy the coffee, muffins and sandwiches and stop staring at my ass Lester"!

Once she was out the door, Lester took a sandwich from the bag along with a muffin. He set his coffee on the table next to him and added cream and sugar from the bag. Then he got up and gave the bag and another cup to me.

"I did not even recognize her, how the hell does she fit all those curves into that five foot nothing size two frame of hers, she is hot"!

"Eat your food, drink your coffee Santos"!

Twenty minutes later Bobby walked in and set next to Lester in his had he had a phone housed in a purple rhinestone case.

"Nice phone does it go with your purse? ", Lester teased.

"It's Meena's,she fell asleep in the truck, and by the way nice job letting her walk out there to the back of a dark parking lot alone". Bobby said angrily.

"She found her way in here alright", I told Bobby.

"Ignore him, Ranger is just mad because the tiny woman is not intimidated by the big bad army mercenary. That and the fact she is giving you and not him inside information. You know Ranger does not play well with others, especially when the toys don't belong to him. Bob, you're right we should have walked her out to the truck not sent her out there by herself , my bad man". Lester said quickly.

"So did you come in here for a reason or just to whine?" I ask.

"Man if Stephanie did not need you", Bobby huffed as he shook his head at me.

"What is it, Bobby?", Lester said. "You have some info about beautiful"?

"Yes, she is out of surgery, they ran into a few complications, but she is going to recover. She has a concussion, both legs required several stitches in the places she had been slashed with a knife. Her dislocated shoulder has been set and placed in a sling and it looks like she has a torn rotators cuff as well. They are going to monitor her kidney's closely for the next few days due to the contusions. Looks like she is going to be here for a while, and we know she is not going to happy about it", Bobby reported.

"When can see her?", Lester ask.

"They are moving her from recovery to a room, right now only the next of kin can see her". "So technically that's him", Bobby said pointing at me.

~ox~ox~ox~ox

I was standing next the window as the sun set , looking at my Babe in her hospital bed, the oxygen tubes in her nose along with the monitor and IV she was hooked up to made her look so helpless. It had been a rough few days for both of us, her for obvious reasons, and me because I could not stand seeing her that way. Over that past three days, Stephanie had refused to eat anything. I had the offered to get her whatever she wanted, but still would not eat. He doctor explained that she was already more that fifteen to twenty pounds underweight, that proper nutrition was vital to her recovery, but the words had no effect on Stephanie. In addition to not eating, she had almost stopped speaking altogether, I could count the number of words she had said over the past few days. I watched Babe drift in and out of restless bouts of sleep filled with nightmares, when she woke up she looked for me, so I had spent most of my time sitting in a chair next to her bed. Stephanie had refused all visitor ,she did not want to see any of the Range men, Lula, Connie or even Mary Lou. A sign had been posted on the door and a notation made on her chart, needless to say, she was also not up to receiving any phone calls. I heard doctors and nurses whispering about possible moving Stephanie to the Psychiatric ward if she remained in this state much longer. I was not sure how to handle that statement. Babe had been through so much, under the circumstances was her behavior really that abnormal? Somehow I thought their discussion on the matter was a bit premature. They didn't know my Babe she is strong she could get through this, all she needed was time and help from the people who love and care for her.

"Ranger ".

"Yeah Babe I'm right here ", I said as I walked over to the other side of the bed.

"What time is it ?", she ask.

"A little after five are you hungry would you like something to eat", I ask hoping she had regained her appetite.

Quietly she shook her head no.

I slouched down in the seat next to the bed as I looked at Stephanie,I could tell there was something on her mind and that she was finally ready to say more that a couple of words to me.