I don't own anything and I'm not making any money… Thank you all for reading and thanks for all of the wonderful reviews, I appreciate all of them. And thanks Haleigh and Melody for proof reading for me! Please enjoy.

What Happens in Vegas

Chapter 24

"Yes, sir," they chorused and then Tank leveled me with a glare.

"You are going to stick by my side. Have your gun out and listen to me without hesitation."

I don't do well with orders, so I tried to lift an eyebrow. Tank just kept glaring and I eventually gave in.

"Sure."

"Good. Everyone get in position. We go on my signal."

oOoOoOo

I felt a wave of adrenaline and relief course through me. After hours of waiting, I couldn't believe we were actually doing this. We were going to get Ranger. He'd only been gone since dinner the day before, but it felt like we'd been looking for him for days.

Once we were actually moving, things happened quickly. Lester and Vince got in position at the back of the house. They would come in once we cleared everything or Tank called them. Then, Bobby and Junior started moving. They were going in first and Tank and I were following them. When they finally made it to the house, we moved.

Tank and I approached from the left, creeping up on the front of the house. I could see the guys picking the lock on the front door, but by the time we made it to the porch they were already in side. 'Front clear' I heard Bobby say softly through my ear piece, and Tank and I went in.

True to my promise, I stayed behind Tank and stuck close. Now that we were in action, I felt oddly calm. I could hear the guys clearing rooms and could see Tank walking around, gun first, but I wasn't really registering any of it. I was just waiting for them to say I could go to Ranger.

Within minutes of entering the house, we all met up in the kitchen and stood facing the door that led to the basement. We knew Harper was in the house and we'd cleared every other room. He had to be down there.

Tank and Bobby were softly discussing the best way to approach the situation when I felt a sudden urge to rip the door open and run down the stairs. But I knew I couldn't. That would put me in danger and distract the guys from Ranger.

I was still thinking along these lines when I saw Bobby reach out and slap Tank on the back.

"All right, man. We'll be right behind you," Bobby said.

"Wait. What?" I asked. Realizing they'd come up with a plan while I'd drifted off.

"I'm going down first," Tank said. "I'll give a signal and the rest of you can follow."

While he said that, he checked his gun and tightened his vest. For the first time ever, I realized Tank was nervous. He was walking into the unknown for his best friend and I was strongly reminded of the Scrog thing. Was this how Ranger felt before he came in for Julie and me?

"No, Bomber," Tank said, doing the ESP thing. "He was calmer than I'd ever seen him."

"You…" I started, but I didn't know what to say. I couldn't stop him and I couldn't help right now.

"Just, if anything happens, tell Lula… well, tell her I… Shit. Tell her I love her." For once, Tank's face wasn't blank. I could see him realizing this as he was saying it, but I could also tell that it wasn't shaking his resolve either.

"I will, big guy," I said, giving him a quick, impulsive hug. "But when you get through, you need to tell her yourself."

And that made him go pale. Not the thought of facing a madman, who was probably armed and waiting, but the thought of telling a woman he loved her.

All I could do was roll my eyes as Tank gave me a guilty smile and motioned for the rest of us to step away from the door.

We moved back and I held my breath as Tank quietly turned the door knob. He slowly pulled the door open and I grew tenser with each inch. When it was finally open, he moved and my heart began hammering in my chest. Nothing happened. Harper didn't come flying out, there were no gunshots, there was nothing.

And then I registered a muted thumping noise. I couldn't place it, but it didn't stop as Tank moved down the stairs.

He had only been out of sight for a minute when his head popped back out of the door frame.

"Bobby, get down here. Junior, stay with Steph."

I shot Tank a death glare, but didn't argue. He looked serious and I wasn't stopping him from getting to Ranger. And Junior would be easier to deal with.

As soon as Bobby had followed Tank out of view, I pulled out my stun gun and pointed it at Junior.

"I'm going," I said.

"Bombshell," he said in a pleading voice.

"I don't want to stun you," I said calmly. "I don't know what's down there and they may need your help. But if you try to touch me, I will zap you."

"Bombshell," I heard Lester's voice say through my ear piece, reminding me that they were out there.

"I'm going, Les," was all I said before brandishing my stun gun at Junior again and moving towards the stairs.

"Stay with her," I heard Les say and assumed he was talking to Junior. I didn't care. I was creeping as softly as possible downward, clutching the railing.

And what I saw nearly made me pass out.

Tank and Bobby were moving into position behind Harper. And Harper was completely oblivious to their presence because he was so absorbed in beating Ranger. He had a gun, but he was using it as a club. The muted thumping sounds I'd heard from upstairs were the sound of the butt of the gun making contact with Ranger's body.

And then Harper started screaming. He was demanding that Ranger wake up and punctuating his words with blows. The guys had frozen at the sudden sound, but then were galvanized into motion.

Within seconds, Tank had Harper unarmed and cuffed on the ground and Bobby was crouching beside Ranger. I tried to move towards them only to realize that my knees had turned to jelly and the only thing keeping me standing was Junior's arm around my waist.

"What's going on?" I heard Lester asking from outside and I registered Tank answering before I tuned them out.

I was completely focused on Ranger, lying crumpled and chained on the concrete floor. I willed my legs to work and pulled myself away from Junior. The trip across the small basement was one of the longest of my life, but finally I dropped to my knees beside Bobby.

I was completely focused on Ranger, taking him in. He was a mess. He face was swollen and bruised. His chest was bare, but his normally beautiful, mocha skin was a mosaic of purple and blue. And he was unconscious, or at least I was praying he was unconscious.

Bobby was still feeling for a pulse.

"It's there," he finally said and I heard sounds of relief from more than just myself.

I looked up and saw that Tank was standing behind me and the rest of the guys had joined us. Lester was on his cell and for the second I tuned in to him, I could tell he'd called 911. I tuned back out when I couldn't listen to him calmly listing Ranger's injuries.

Instead, I watched Bobby start working on Ranger. A couple of times, I reached out, wanting to give him an extra hand, or just touch Ranger, but Bobby gently stopped me. That alone told me Ranger was worse than he looked.

After an eternity, I heard the faint wail of sirens before the basement was flooded with people. Paramedics took over where Bobby was working, shooting him questions and telling me I needed to give them space. Nothing was really registering, though. All I knew was that I was being separated from Ranger again and I couldn't handle it. And then a cop was beside me asking questions, but I couldn't understand him.

Suddenly, I felt a pair of arms go around me, lift me up and hold me against a warm, muscular chest.

"She's in shock," I heard Tank's voice say through my haze.

oOoOoOoOo

I woke up warm and wrapped up against a muscular chest. For about two seconds, I let myself believe that I was back in Ranger's apartment, in his arms and that Harper was a bad dream. Then I woke up completely.

"Morning, Sleeping Beauty," I heard a voice say beside my ear.

Tilting my head up, I saw that my pillow was Lester and I was snuggled into his lap. And I realized we were in a hospital waiting room.

"How's Ranger?" I asked.

Lester was quiet just long enough for me to start panicking before he answered. "He's still in surgery."

"How long?"

"They've been working on him for about two hours."

"Did they tell you what's wrong with him?" I asked, but Lester flicked his eyes to someone else.

"You want to take this one?" he asked and I twisted to see Bobby sitting in a chair across from us and Tank beside him.

"He's pretty roughed up, Bomber," Bobby said and Les tightened his grip on me.

"But what was wrong?"

"They did X-rays and a MRI first and luckily he doesn't have any permanent damage to his head. The worst there is a broken nose. He's got a couple of broken ribs and a lot of bone bruising. He's in surgery because internal bleeding was pooling in his abdominal cavity."

I felt my eyes go wide and my world started to feel fuzzy again.

"They can fix it," Bobby said quickly. "You just missed one of the nurses coming out to tell us he wouldn't be much longer."

"So he'll be okay?" I asked. I had to be sure I'd understood everything right.

"He'll be fine. You should have seen the shape he was in after some of our missions," Lester said. "There was this one time he nearly ble—," he stopped when Tank smacked him upside the head. Guess I didn't get to hear the end of that story.

Tank must have noticed that I wasn't enjoying it. As much as I loved Ranger facts, I didn't want to hear about him being hurt while I was still worrying about him…

We were quiet for a minute before I slid off Lester's lap onto the couch beside him. I didn't go far, though. I still needed the contact.

And I needed something to do. Or eat.

"Did you guys bring my purse?" I asked.

"Yeah," Lester said and reached down beside the couch we were on, then handed me my bag.

I dug for a couple minutes, but I must have eaten my emergency stash of Snickers on my last stake out. I at least had to have a pack of mints. Maybe some Lifesavers… I was fishing my hand around that little inside pocket that collects random stuff when I felt them. Not candy, but a set of rings.

The set of rings I'd woken up with in Vegas. I'd forgotten about them with all the activity over the last few days.

Careful to keep my hands in my bag, I played with the rings. I slipped one and then the other on and off again. I didn't look at them as I thought about that morning and what had gone through my head when I first saw them. There was more disbelief than fear. I was thinking that even back then, some part of me wanted to be married to Ranger.

And then a doctor came out.

"May I speak with Mr. Manoso's next of kin?"

Lester poked my side, and I realized that was me. I jumped out of my seat, spilling my purse and shoving the rings quickly on my finger with the diamond twisted down.

By the time I'd done that and stumbled through the contents of my purse, the doctor was watching me with a smile. I was entertainment again.

"How is he?" I asked.

"He's going to be just fine. The bleeding was caused by a ruptured blood vessel, but we were able to repair it quite easily. He's going to be in quite a bit of pain for a few days, but because of his excellent health, he should recover quickly."

"Can I see him?" I asked. I heard the words the doctor was saying, but I wouldn't really believe Ranger was all right until I saw him with my own eyes.

"He's not conscious, but can have one person in his room at a time."

I flicked my eyes to the guys, wondering if one of them would want to see him, but hoping they'd let me go.

"Go on," Bobby said. "We've seen him banged up before. It's nothing special."

I shot them a smile and headed off for the room the doctor indicated.

When I pushed the door open the nurse was still getting Ranger settled in and hooked up to all the post-surgery beeping things. At least that's what it looked like. But it took me all of two seconds to realize she was copping a feel. On my husband!

I loudly cleared my throat, causing her to freeze and turn around with a guilty look. When she realized I wasn't a superior, the look was gone.

"I'm sorry," she said in a condescending voice. "This gentleman just came out of surgery. Only family is allowed and I doubt you're his sister."

"No. I'm his wife," I said, angrily twisting my rings back around and thanking God I'd slipped them on.

"Yeah, you've got a nice rock, but he's not wearing a ring and there's no wife listed on his records."

"We're newlyweds. And he was kidnapped," I said with an eye roll as I continued into the room.

I was going to see Ranger and this bitch wasn't going to stop me.

"Fine. He's a mess anyway," she said, before giving a bag of fluid one last check and sashaying out the door. Good riddance, I thought, before turning to Ranger.

"Finally," I whispered and sank into the chair beside his bed.

He was a mess. But he was my mess. I must have spent half an hour just staring at him. His hands and arms were above the covers. They were covered in bruises and stuck full of needles, but the tone of his muscles was there. Even battered he looked good.

I moved up to his face and felt my heart clench a little bit. He had two black eyes and a splint on his nose. His lower lip was swollen and split. And then there was his hair. Long in the front and short in the back where Harper had sliced off the ponytail. I gently ran my fingers through it before lying my head down next to his.

"I missed you," I whispered as I carefully slid my hand under his, needing to feel him.

For a long time, I just enjoyed lying there like that. But eventually, the lack of sleep and the relief caught up with me and the beep of the heart monitor lulled me to sleep.

oOoOoOo

A/N: Thanks for reading! Please review and let me know what you thought…