After extensive consideration between the three girls, they picked a pair of navy palazzo pants made of a light fabric, and paired it with a thin knit tank top in a white with pale blue flowers and a pale blue sweater overtop. Lindsay shooed the girls out of the room and told them that they could work on their surprise for a little bit, and she gave me a hug and a kiss. "You should be giving me a prize, you know", she said in my ear.

I looked at her. "Probably. What for?"

"Not scratching your sister's eyes out."

I snorted. "I think I'm going to have to give that same prize to all the people in the castle. Including my parents."

Lindsay laughed. "That's true. I like your parents. We've been having a lot of fun together." I smiled. "I see where you get your big heart from."

"They have been enjoying spending time with you as well. To tell you the truth, Mom and Dad look happier than I have seen them in years."

Lindsay smiled. "I'm really glad you liked my surprise."

I grinned. "I didn't like it. I loved it. Thank you very much."

Lindsay laughed. "Rest, and maybe you'll be able to come down for lunch."

I smiled. "That's the plan."

Ranger stayed behind, and together with Kai they got me ready for the day. "How are you feeling?" said Kai when we finished.

"Honestly? Pretty wiped out. However, I'm happy at the same time."

"What's your pain level?"

"The medication hasn't worn off. It's only been two hours since I took it."

Kai smiled. "That's why I'm asking."

"My abdomen is about a five, and my legs are about a nine, so I am quite happy about that. That is a three-point reduction from this morning and a nine-point reduction from yesterday."

"How is your anxiety?"

I sighed.

"Steph?"

"I'm panicking about seeing my sister and grandmother at lunch."

"How about I give you a light sedative, something that will make you relax but not something that will force you to sleep. If you want to sleep, that's good, and if you want to eat lunch with everyone, it will help you feel calmer. Remember, anxiety is commonly experienced by people who have suffered from severe burns. This won't be something you need long-term."

"Okay", I said.

He added it to the IV, and several moments later I felt like I was floating. "Just relax, Steph", said Kai. "It's an hour to lunch, and you can use the peace."

I woke up about fifteen minutes before lunch, and I smiled at Kai. "How are you feeling?" he said.

I grinned. "Like I can breathe."

"Does that mean that we are going downstairs for lunch?"

I grinned again. "Yes", I said. "I think we'll try it. What's the worst that can happen?"

"If things go topsy-turvy", said Kai, "let me know and I will bring you up right away."

Tears came to my eyes. "Thank you", I said.

"You don't feel as confident as you are portraying, do you?"

I sighed. "I have to go sometime."

Kai smiled. "That's the spirit."

Ranger came into the room. "I heard that you are going to try it?"

"Yes. The sedative is still working, which probably means that I won't scream at Val. Probably. Maybe."

Ranger laughed. "If you need out of there, give me the secret signal."

"The bat symbol in the sky?"

Ranger laughed hard. I had told him once that, at the bonds office, his nickname was Batman. "No", he said, "I'll be sitting beside you. Just rub my arm or something. If I don't pick up on it, poke me in the side."

"You know, it means a whole lot different when I poke you than when you poke me." I laughed as his face went red.

"Oh God, you two aren't talking about partner showers again, are you?" said Kai. But he was grinning as he said it.

Ranger sighed. "It's a good thing you're a doctor. It's bad enough that my team knows about partner showers." I swallowed back a laugh at the look of mortification on Ranger's face.

"I have to know. How did your team find out about partner showers?" said Kai.

"Julie told them", said Ranger, "which makes it even more embarrassing. When we were doing a training exercise, Steph was a little upset, so I threw her in the pool and dunked her a few times, and then we decided to go in and have a shower together to warm up. Julie announced to us in front of everyone that we should have a partner shower."

I giggled. "If they didn't figure it out from the grin on Julie's face and the fact that Ranger's face went bright red, I think they figured it out by the fact that we were in the shower for half an hour together."

"I still don't know how Julie found out about partner showers", said Ranger, "but it is a little embarrassing to know that your daughter knows when you are having sex."

Kai laughed hard. "Then you might want to be a bit quiet with your 'skadoosh' comments, or the three little ones will figure it out as well." About six months ago I had been telling Ranger that I had watched Kung Fu Panda. In it was the Wuxi Finger Hold. It was a special way of holding the 'finger', and then you say 'skadoosh', and there is an explosion of the Power of Awesomeness – according to the movie. Ranger was interested but, when I demonstrated the Power of Awesomeness and performed the Wuxi Finger Hold, Ranger thought it was the best thing ever. Now, when I want sex, I say, "skadoosh" and he decides that it is time for a partner shower.

I looked at Ranger's face as he groaned. "Ranger thinks the Wuxi Finger Hold is inspired", I said. I giggled again.

Kai laughed. "There is nothing that can beat the Power of Awesomeness."

"Hooyah", I said. Kai laughed again as Ranger glared at me. "I'm an honorary SEAL, soldier boy. I have to get the lingo right."

Ranger sighed and shook his head.

Kai disengaged the IV and helped me put on my sweater to cover the taped-down catheter and, when I was ready, Ranger picked me up and carried me out of the room. I nestled my head on his shoulder and kissed his neck, and Ranger smiled. "I love you too", he said.

I sighed in happiness as Ranger carried me into the dining room and placed me at the head of the table. As he helped arrange me so that I was comfortable, the kids walked into the dining room. "Mommy!" said my girls in joy.

The other kids grinned just as widely. "Hey, Steph", said Ethan. "Are you feeling better?"

"I think a bit. Kai and Ranger and I thought that I would come down for some company. I don't know if I will make it through a whole meal, but I definitely want to try."

"Chica!" said Miguel as he walked in with his plate of food. He grinned to see me. "How are you feeling?"

"Better than yesterday and willing to try it out of bed to see how long I last."

"Excellent", said Dirk as he walked through. He was balancing the plates for his three kids on his arms.

"I'm impressed, Dirk. If you ever get tired of working for Rangeman, you could get a job waiting tables."

Dirk laughed. "I was at a restaurant once with a large group of people. This kid was my waiter and, when he came out with the food, I said, 'this is your first day waiting tables, isn't it?' The kid said 'yes, how did you know?' Honest to God, he had about fifteen plates of food stacked one on top of the other. He stood at one end of the table and fired those babies down the table like they were frisbees. My plate arrived and it had indents in the mashed potato from the bottom rim of the plate piled on top. I handed it back, explained that the bottom of the plates might be dirty from resting on the counter as they were being prepared, and that he couldn't stack food, one on top of the other. It wasn't sanitary. So I sent my meal back, which started everyone sending their meal back. The waiter didn't know what to do. But he didn't stack them the second time he came out."

"It was probably the same dish", said Miguel, "with the mashed potato re-formed into an appealing mound."

"Maybe a little extra spit added for effect?" I said.

"Gross. Did he get fired?" said Nick.

"I hope not. I gave him a good review on the personality portion of the customer satisfaction survey. I just suggested a better training program for staff."

I laughed.

As Ranger left to retrieve some food for the two of us, Val came and sat beside me. "I'm sorry", I said. "Ranger will be sitting there. I need him to help me."

"I can cut your food for you. Jesus, he can sit somewhere else. It is a free country, isn't it?"

I grinned. "Not in this house. In this house, if Ranger says jump, you say how high. Ranger is the leader and no person welcome in this room would question that."

"I'm not jumping to Ranger's tune."

"As I said, there is no person welcome in this room that would question that."

"Fuck you. I'm not moving."

Hal got up, walked over to Val's chair, pulled her out from the table, and picked her up. He carried her into another room and as he dropped her on the sofa, we could hear him saying, "you can eat after everyone else. If you can't follow the rules, we don't want you eating with us." He left the room, removed Val's plate and put it on the sideboard, and calmly returned to his seat as Ranger came out of the kitchen with our filled plates.

My mother cleared her throat, unsuccessfully tried to swallow back a giggle, and pretty soon the whole table was laughing. The shock on Val's face had been priceless. The kids started laughing as well, but I don't think they were laughing for the same reason. At least when Alix giggled and said, 'Hal lifted Val like a baby', and laughed some more, I figured that they didn't really understand what had happened.

"I'm glad you are here", said Ben to me as the diners stopped laughing. "I was wondering if I could ask you for a favor." Ben was the head of MI6 and, after our case closed yesterday, Ben asked Ranger if he would mind if Ben continued to stay for a few days. We of course said that was fine. Not only was it good for business, we honestly liked him and got along well with him, and we wanted to encourage the friendship.

"Absolutely, Ben", I said. "What's the favor?"

"It's actually for a friend of mine. He's the Chief of Police for the Inverness Police Force. I'd like to link up your research team with him. He has a challenging case in front of him, and he's not sure how to tackle it. After seeing what you can do, I think you are exactly the people who can crack his case."

I looked at the Gurus, and each of them were sitting closer to the edges of their seats in interest. "Okay, we're intrigued. What's going on?"

Ben smiled. "A number of high schools are reporting increased drug trafficking and the hospitals have reported an increased number of teen drug overdoses. The police have been putting people in undercover to try to identify and charge the people responsible. However, they had tried it with four officers so far, and all four have been murdered within hours of being placed in the school. The Chief has concluded that there is a leak in the police force, and that is why the officers have been both identified and murdered so soon after the officers took on the assignment."

I thought about that for a moment. "Any video surveillance?"

"I don't think it shows anything worthwhile."

I looked at Ranger. "Do we have time to handle another pro bono?"

Ranger looked at the Gurus. "Do you want to use it for a training exercise?"

"Hell yeah", said Miguel. "We have to train the staff anyway, so we might as well do a case at the same time. The training will be better, they'll see the point a bit better, and we'll solve an issue while we do it."

"I agree", said Dirk. "It will make for a much stronger teaching example."

"Do you need someone to go undercover?" said Eduardo.

Grandma looked enthused. "I could go undercover."

"I appreciate the offer", I said, "but I think your accents would be a problem."

"However, if we want people to go undercover, we have a Scottish team that can do the work. We could provide support to that person", said Ranger.

"If you're going to send in some undercover agents", I said, "you'll need some information soon."

"I'll do what I can to get that video", said Ranger.

I looked at the Gurus. "Were you busy doing anything?"

"Naval gazing", said Nick.

I looked at him and tried to hold back a smile. "God, you're boring. Why don't you say something like skydiving?"

"Having nooky", said my grandmother.

"Been there, done that", said Nick with a smile. "Thought I'd try naval gazing for a change."

I laughed.

"The only part that will be hard is that Steph will want to work the case with us", said Nick.

"I think that Steph will be able to do half-days soon", said Kai. "I will still want to stay with her and monitor her, but I think that is within our reach. We are just playing around with medication today, but hopefully by the end of tomorrow we will have a new medication regime worked out, and she'll be able to do partial days by the end of the week."

I grinned and turned to Lindsay. "All those new clothes you bought me will be put to good use."

Lindsay laughed.

Hal smiled. "Welcome back, Steph."

I laughed and took a bite of my food. "Can you talk to the Police Chief today, Ranger, and offer our services and get a copy of the video surveillance? Also ask for access to all his HR files and the names of the officers involved in the case, both murdered and still living."

"Do you want to be on that call?" said Ranger.

"Of course, but I'm not going to. If the Gurus wanted to be in on that call, that would be good. However, I was up for most of the morning and I'd really like to come down for dinner tonight. That means that I need to have a long nap this afternoon."

Ranger assessed my face. "You okay?" he said quietly.

I smiled. "I am. I'm just trying to play it smart. If I have a chance at helping train people, it will mean that I will be working in the morning and sleeping in the afternoon."

"If you don't have anything for us to do", said Raphael, "perhaps we could play with the kids. I'm sure we could have a lot of fun, and you'd be assured that the kids were safe and protected."

"That would be fantastic", said Ranger as he smiled. "I know that Kate and Cindy are finding it hard getting their own work done, and they would appreciate some time during the day to focus on their work. If Hal and the Gurus want to sit in on the call, then, I'll talk to the Chief and see what I can set up."

I smiled as I finished my plate. "Did I hear that there is pineapple upside-down cake for dessert?"

Ranger grinned. "The real reason why Steph wanted to come down for a meal."

I laughed. "Hell yeah. I know how good pineapple upside down cake is. If someone was bringing my cake to my bedroom for me, little bites of it might disappear on route and then, by the time it got to my room, there would be no more cake. And that would be a tragedy. It would make me sad." I looked at the kids, and every single one of them pretended they were crying. "Exactly", I said. "Sad Stephanie."

Evan grinned. "It's okay, Steph. I saw a BIG pineapple upside-down cake."

"Oh, thank goodness. How many pieces would it be?"

Evan thought for a moment. "Twenty-one."

I grinned. "Perfect! That's twenty for me and one for you."

"No, Mommy", said Tia.

"What? I'd be sharing. I would give you all a whole piece to split between you. Daddy says that I'm getting too skinny."

"Mommy", said Tia with a sigh, although her eyes were twinkling with mirth. "This is pineapple upside-down cake that we're talking about. I would get the twenty pieces, and the rest of you can share the remainder. I'm a growing girl, you know. It's important for me to eat."

I laughed hard.