There was a sound at the door of the bedroom, and I woke up as I heard a whimper. I looked to the foot of the bed. A man who I had never met but recognized from photos as Duncan Temple was walking into my bedroom with Val in front of him, his gun pointed at her head, and Raphael walking beside him. I looked at Raphael. He looked like he was plotting on how to get Val away from Duncan. I looked around the room. Whomever my guard was for that moment, whether it was Kai or Grant, was in the washroom. I thought the best that I could do was talk loudly so that Grant or Kai could send out an SOS.

"Hi, Val", I said. "Why are you being held at gunpoint?" I said it in a loud voice and hoped that either Kai or Grant would understand through the bathroom door what was going on.

Val whimpered again. When she didn't answer, I turned to Duncan. "Who are you?" I said.

"Duncan Temple."

"It's nice to meet you, Duncan Temple. Why are you at the foot of my bed holding Val at gunpoint?"

"She said she was your sister. I was hoping to find the person who was responsible for doing the research on me. I wanted to explain why I was doing what I was doing, and then ask them to back away."

"Why?"

"I'm not a bad person. I needed you to understand that. So I thought that I'd use your sister to guide me into the castle and up to where you were so that I could explain myself."

"I guess she technically is my sister? We disowned her when she attacked me when I was injured. She caused unbearable pain and reinjured me – and then begged me, once again, for money. She has no shame, no integrity and perhaps more importantly, no honor. She's an embarrassment to me and an embarrassment to the family. Our toddlers have more self-respect than that, and they are four and three. So yes, she was born my sister but is my sister no longer."

"Bitch", he said as he turned and pointed his gun at me. "I had a brother. Siblings are sacred, and you should never write them off."

"Yeah, sis", said Val.

"What happened to him?" I said.

"He died."

"I'm sorry for your loss."

"I would give anything to have my brother back."

"I understand, but if your brother assaulted you every time you saw him, you might get a wee bit irritated as well."

"How did you injure yourself?"

"I ran into a burning fire and saved a stranger."

"What are your injuries?"

"A mixture of second-degree and third-degree burns on my legs and feet, so almost twenty percent of my body."

"Fuck." He turned to Val. "You told me that your sister was a useless person, not a national hero. I heard about your sister around the station. People were amazed at what she did. The guy was huge in comparison to your sister, and what she did was nothing short of heroic. She saved the gentleman's life."

"Dumb luck", said Val.

Duncan looked at her for a moment. "You have got to be the dumbest person I have ever met. You are lucky in that you have a sister, and you don't appreciate her properly. You should be proud of what she did. I don't think it is your sister that is the useless one out of the two of you." Val started to cry as he pushed her towards me and, while his attention was diverted, Raphael jumped forward, knocked the gun out of his hand, and used my signature move on him. Then, when Duncan was incapacitated, he did a temple knock. By the time that Grant got out of the washroom seconds later, Duncan was cuffed and ready for transport to the jailhouse.

Grant felt for a pulse and smiled. "He'll wake up in a few minutes."

"Of course", said Raphael. "Did you think that I wasn't a professional?"

Grant grinned as Ranger ran in, looking fierce. "Raphael took care of the trash, Ranger", he said.

I looked at Ranger's upset. "Yeah, and just for me he used my signature move. Men don't like it any more when other men do it compared to when I do it."

Ranger's eyes raked my face, looking for any upset. He smiled to see that there was none there. "Fancy that", he said.

I grinned and as the men piled in after Ranger, I heard several people chuckle.

Ranger turned to Val and sighed. "What the hell happened, Val?"

"I was living in your garage. Now that you threw me out, I had nowhere else to live. It's not like I had money. Steph has access to your money, but I do not and Steph has been refusing to share. Steve said that he would pay my bail and he would come and stay here in Scotland with me, and after the charges are dropped, he will pay for me to come back to the US to stay with him, but that he didn't want the kids to come with me."

"Steve, as in your first husband?" I said in shock. As I thought about it, I thought that I vaguely remembered Eduardo telling me something about it. I had been too upset at the time for it to register though.

Val smiled. "I had a good conversation with him. I told him about Grandma and our parents, about you and Ranger, about Albert and the kids. He said that he had never wanted kids and that was the main reason that we had broken up. He said that was why he had an affair with our babysitter but, when he found out that she wanted kids as well, he broke up with her too. He said that he has always missed me since."

"So he is coming to stay with you?"

"Yes. He said that I just had to get this trial over with, and then we could go back to the US. Albert can have the kids. They like him better anyway."

"Let me get this straight", I said as I stared at her. "Steve, who broke your heart by having an affair almost ten years ago told you that he misses you and wants you to come home to him."

Valerie smiled. "Yes. I'll be moving back to live with Steve when we get back to the States. I just have to get this little charge over with first."

"And the charge in the States."

"I'm sure that you will get rid of both the charges for me so that I don't have them hanging over my head. After all, I deserve a fresh start with Steve."

"Maybe he would find it to be a good reminder of what you can do when you are mad."

"It doesn't matter if I am mad at you. You have to love me anyway. You're my sister."

"No, actually I don't. I don't have to take your crap and just because you're related to me does not mean that I have to accept being physically and verbally abused. I don't take it from Grandma, and she has an excuse. I am definitely not taking it from you."

"Then just get rid of these charges so that I can get out of your hair."

I looked at Ranger, and Ranger looked steadily at me. I could tell that he would back me in whatever I decided, and I thought again how lucky I was to have someone so supportive. I turned to Val. "No", I said. I could see Ranger grin. "I don't have to take this garbage from you, and perhaps if there are consequences it will make you think another time before you strike out in anger. They are little charges, but there have to be consequences."

Duncan woke up and Raphael pulled him to his feet.

"You're doing this just to screw with my future", said Val.

I looked at her and thought about that. "Am I?" I said. I thought about that some more. "Do you remember the one and only time that I got drunk? I was living at home and when I came in, I threw up all over the living room carpet. That was a little charge too. Mom got me up early the next morning and, when I was hung over, she handed me a scrub brush and some cleaner and told me to clean the mess that I had made. It was a good lesson for me. Not only did I never get that drunk again, but I learned to always clean my messes up. You've made the proverbial mess, and now you have to learn to be an adult and clean it up. I'm sorry, Val. I'm not cleaning up your mess for you."

"You're a bitch, you know that?"

I sighed. "So you have told me many times."

Duncan looked at Val. "You're an idiot. I would do anything to have my brother back. He was a good person. Like your sister, he was the kind of person that would run into a burning building to save someone. My brother was bullied and died when the bullies forced him to take drugs. They thought it would be funny. Instead, the drugs were cut with something toxic and he didn't stand a chance. I loved my brother and was devastated when he died. Unlike me, your sibling is still alive but instead of revering her, you are choosing to abuse her and I am saying that you are 'choosing' to hurt her because that is what you are doing."

"I'm not choosing to hurt her."

Duncan looked around the room and focused on Grant. "What are this lady's injuries?"

Grant looked at me, and I nodded. "Steph has a mix of severe second-degree and third-degree burns from her knees to her toes. She got them by walking across a floor that was on fire and dragging a man who was about a foot taller and about three times her weight out of the building. Unfortunately, at the time she was still recovering from an operation and a bad case of pneumonia, and had almost died just two months before. Because of her previous injuries and the burns and fire-related illnesses that she sustained, she has been very ill."

"Knowing that Val had already wished Steph dead when she almost died two months before", said Ranger softly, "Val was not invited to Scotland when we came to see a dying friend. She, however, came anyway. She believed that Steph was making her injuries up despite the thirty people in the castle here telling her that the injuries were real. To prove her point, she kicked Steph on her injured leg, and because there was no skin to protect her limb she severely injured her leg and disturbed the healing. It is now looking likely that Steph will need to have skin grafting done."

Duncan looked at Val. "Jesus. You're a fucking bitch. I think you might even be worse than the bullies that killed my brother."

"You don't understand. My sister has money, and she's not willing to share it with me."

"So? It's not your money."

"But she's my sister."

I looked at Val and said tiredly, "Val, when I was struggling to make rent and my car was repossessed and I had no money for food a few years ago, I didn't go running to you and Steve to ask for money. That's the first thing. I can actually remember talking to you at one point and telling you how things were going, and you telling me not to look to you for help – even though I hadn't asked." Ranger turned and looked at me in surprise. I had never told him that before. "Despite that, Ranger and I offered you a cushy deal. We'd pay your expenses and tuition if you wanted to go back to school as long as you quit drinking and maintained a B- average. You failed to do that. I'm sorry that you don't like the fact that we retracted our offer when you failed to uphold your end of the deal, but that's the way life goes. If you don't do your job, you don't get paid for it." Val's face was stormy with resentment as I sighed. "Val, go live with Steve and be happy, okay?"

"I can't. You have to get the charges dropped first."

Ranger glared at her. "Clean up your own fucking mess, Val."

I sighed and looked at Duncan. "Why were you here, anyway? I'm sure it wasn't to learn about the Plum family dynamics."

Duncan sighed. "Your team did the research on me."

"Yes."

"I made a mess."

"Yes."

"My brother was the nicest person alive. I came to tell you about him, so that you would understand why I did what I did." I watched him. "He would have been ashamed of me." I didn't say anything. "I think, like Val, it is time for me to clean up my mess."

"How are you going to do that?" I asked.

"I took matters into my own hands. Now it's time for me to put punishment into the hands of the court. There are two more people who were involved in killing my brother. They were the kingpins. I saved them until last so that they could get good and scared."

"I think your brother would be proud of your decision to let the courts punish his attackers", I said. "I know that you are still grieving and that grief can make people react abnormally, and perhaps grief counselling would be something the courts would be able to help with. However, you are a good person who was caught in an impossible situation."

"But now I have to clean up my mess."

I smiled. "We all have to do that sometimes."

Duncan smiled. "I wish I had talked to you before I had done what I had done."

"Why's that?"

"I wouldn't have killed the people that I killed. Now all those victims' families have to go through the same torment that I went through."

"Yes." I looked at him for a moment and assessed the expression on his face. "Do you have proof that these last two people were involved?"

"I have pictures. My friend wanted to be an investigative photographer. He took pictures of what was going on. I have pictures of the guys beating my brother until he couldn't move, and then dosing my brother until he couldn't survive."

"And you have your friend as a witness as well?"

"Yes. He lives in Italy now though." He sighed. "I had stayed home to study that night." He looked up at me with tears in his eyes. "I wasn't there for my brother when he needed me."

Ranger looked at me and, as he could see the gears spinning in my head, he sighed. "Ah, fuck", he said.

The police walked into our room, and I looked at Duncan. "Don't forget to show the police your pictures."

Duncan stood still while the cuffs were exchanged. The police looked at Ranger. "Do you want to charge him?"

Ranger looked at me and sighed. "No, he didn't hurt my wife. However, if he comes back we will."

"Thank you", said Duncan as he looked at Ranger. He turned to me. "What do you think are my next steps?"

"Go for grief counseling and turn over all evidence to the police. Duncan, what you did was wrong – and that was your mess. It was also understandable, and if you can prove that to the courts and prove that you are taking steps to recover, your punishment may be much more reasonable."

He nodded as the police let him go, and Raphael escorted him out of the castle.

The police turned to us. "Is there anyone else that needs to be taken in?"

I sighed. "Val, you are not staying here, in our garage or anywhere else. Do you want to stay in jail until your trial? It would be a roof over your head and three square meals a day. I don't really care as to whether you are in jail or out as long as you leave me the hell alone."

"Steve is on his way over. He will not be impressed if he has to bail me out of jail again. Can't I just stay here, Steph? I promise not to bother you."

"NO!", said Ranger. "No fucking way. The last time we let you stay here you put back Steph's recovery by months."

"Where am I going to go then, Ranger?"

"I don't fucking care where you fucking go as long as it isn't fucking here. Steph has taken shit from you because you were in a bad place. She has given you seventy-five thousand dollars because you wanted to go back to school – and then you didn't bother going to classes. The way you have repaid her is through assaulting her, screaming and swearing at her, embarrassing her, pulling her down and talking shit about her and the latest? Crippling her and causing unbelievable pain. Steph is hopped up on painkillers and is struggling to keep a smile on her face, and you come in and ask for fucking leniency and a place to stay? You are a fucking piece of work. I have worked with terrorists and junkies, dictators and serial killers and they all have more fucking class and more fucking honor than you do. Steph is in pain, every single minute of every single day, and you don't give a rat's ass. And you know what? That means that I don't give a rat's ass about you. Steph is not well enough to make decisions about her wellbeing and the wellbeing of the people in this house, and by God I'll make them for her. Get the hell out of this house before I throw you out the goddamned window."

Val started to cry. "Why are you being so mean to me?"

"Because you are a selfish, self-centered fucking bitch", said Eduardo. He walked further into the room and grabbed Val by the shoulder. When she squirmed, he cranked her arm up behind her back and started to push her out of the room ahead of him.

"Wait! Where am I going to stay?" said Val.

"Don't know, don't care", said Ranger. "Goodbye."

Kai walked into the room. He was dripping with sweat, and he looked around him. He assessed my face, and I guess he could see that my pain levels were increasing. "Looks like I missed a story while I was out on my run", he said mildly.

He looked at Grant, but Grant was already looking at the medication log. He put the notebook down and, as the room cleared of Rangeman staff, Grant quietly asked me for pain numbers. When I told him that my pain level on my leg was a ten, he offered to dose me up again. I smiled and thanked him.

When Kai had gone for a shower, Hal had shown the officers out, and everybody other than Ranger and Grant had left, Ranger said to me, "I thought you were about to take Duncan under your wing."

I smiled. "I thought of it."

"I'm glad, but why didn't you?"

I paused. "I guess what everyone is saying to me is getting through to me. Sometimes the strongest person is the person who can admit that they need help. I still have trouble accepting that it's okay to put myself first, but for the first time ever I am willing to try." I looked at Ranger. "You know what I would like?"

Ranger smiled in relief. "What's that, babe?"

"I want to get a wheelchair. Maybe not a pink one like the girls want me to get, but a nice black one in Rangeman colors, and I want to be in my wheelchair when I have to see Val in court. As much as I love it when you carry me around, it smacks a little too much of 'victim'. I want to go into court and be seen as a strong woman, a fighter, a survivor."

"I am strong, I am invincible, I am woman?"

"I am Wonder Woman!"

"In that case, I'm surprised that you aren't asking for an invisible plane."

"Oooh, yeah. That would be awesome, thanks!" Ranger groaned as I laughed.