Chapter 6

When the lights went out Alex felt her way to the end table, to get the flashlight she keeps there for emergencies. Once she found it she grabbed Erica's hand and led her toward the stairs. Walker understood immediately that she was going to the children. They were halfway up the stairs when the front door burst open and three armed men came charging in. Alex noticed that they were wearing night vision goggles that magnify all available light, so she shined the flashlight in their faces. This temporary blinded them and gave Walker and Jimmy a chance to stop them before they got very far. Blue saw that Walker and Jimmy had these guys under control, so she slipped out the front door to call for backup. The full moon made it easier to find her way to the truck. Maybe she can find out exactly what they are dealing with.

Hearing the sound of breaking glass coming from the children's room, Alex hurried up the stairs to find her child. As she entered the room, Alex saw Erica struggling with a man trying to hand Jet out the window to his waiting partner. Erica grabbed for her baby boy, but the man standing on the ladder managed to land a hard right hand to Erica's jaw, sending her flying across the room. The man on the ladder quickly took the baby and started down. The man still inside the room moved to Angela's bed and started to pick her up, but Alex jumped on his back and tried to use the sleeper hold that Walker had taught her. He was too quick for her though, and spun around flipping her to the floor.

Walker came into the room just as Alex hit the floor. A rage seemed to fill him and he made a flying side kick to the man's head. Off balance the man stumbled to the window. He grabbed desperately for the window sill to catch himself but he was unsuccessful and fell backwards out the window. Alex rushes to Angela's bed and picks up the crying child.

Jimmy finds Erica lying on the floor. He gently picks her up and cradles her head in his lap. As she begins to come to, she struggles to get up. Jimmy tries to stop her until she tells him, between sobs, "Jimmy, they took the baby."

Jimmy and Walker race down the stairs to the front door, while Alex helps Erica get to her feet.

Outside, Blue was successful in making it to Walker's truck and calling for help. As she was making her way back to the house, she saw a man come flying out of an upstairs window. As she went to investigate, she saw another man running straight at her. They were less than ten feet apart when she drew her sidearm. Taking aim she yelled "freeze." The man obeyed for a split second. As she moved forward and ordered him to put his hands behind his head, he suddenly pitched the bundle he was carrying toward Blue. A feint cry came from the flying bundle and Blue realized that it must be Jimmy's baby. She dropped her gun and made a flying dive for the baby. She caught it just before they both hit the ground.

The man was running away from Blue. She retrieved her pistol from the grass and made her way to the front porch. A van engine started and a pair of headlights came on, illuminating the whole yard. The sound of gravel flying and a van door being slid open told her they were picking up the escaping man. Blue knew she had to get the baby inside the house before they opened fire. She made a dive across the front porch, while shielding the baby with her own body.

Jimmy reached the door just as the men in the van opened fire. Everyone inside the house dropped to the floor. A loud thump was heard on the front porch as the van sped away. As soon as the shooting stopped, Jimmy slowly opened the door. Blue was clutching something tightly as she knelt on the floor of the porch.

At the sound of the door opening Blue raises up and hands the child to Jimmy. Jimmy holds his son close and while comforting the crying infant, rushes to the kitchen. Alex has found Walker's Coleman lantern and uses it to illuminate the small room. Walker helps Blue to her feet and notices that she is limping.

"Are you alright?' he asks.

"Yeah, I think so. I must have hit my leg when I dove on the porch," she replies.

They hear a scream from the kitchen and rush to see what is going on now. Erica is holding Jet under the weak light, crying, "Jimmy, there is blood on his blanket." Jimmy takes the child and quickly removes him from the blood covered blanket and examines him for any injuries.

Blue is beginning to feel sick now. She starts to pray for the child's safety. The room is starting to spin and her leg is really hurting now.

Jimmy has stripped the crying baby to its diaper and is examining it closely.

"I can't find a mark on him. I don't know how it got here but, this blood isn't his," happily exclaims Jimmy.

The light is growing dimmer as Blue finishes her prayer. She realizes she is falling and tries to catch Walker's arm. Walker reaches to catch her, but only manages to slow her fall. As Blue loses consciousness the sound of sirens are heard in the distance.

Gage is suddenly awakened as the arm he was resting his head on slips off the chair. He shakes his head and tries to remember where he is. Then it all comes flooding back to him. His precious partner is still lying in the hospital bed fighting for her life.

He starts to talk to himself. "What would be the worst case scenario if I just tell her how I feel? She could tell me that she doesn't feel the same way, but, she could tell me that she does. What if we do get into a relationship? Could we still be partners? Could I let her put her life on the line every day? Would I be able to be a good ranger if I was always trying to protect her? Oh Syd, what am I going to do?"

At the hospital Walker decides to go check on Sydney and Gage. Gage is surprised when Walker comes in Sydney's room. "What are you doing back here?" he says slightly worried.

Walker fills him in on what happened at the ranch.

"Wow, this case just keeps getting better and better. So Blue saved Jet?" asked Gage.

"Yeah, but she was wounded in her left leg," stated Walker. "I don't think it is too bad, though. We didn't even know she had been wounded until she passed out."

"How is Trivette holding up?" asked Gage.

"He is pretty shaken up. Alex is with him in the waiting room," Walker said.

Erica does have a concussion, and will need to stay overnight for observation. Little Jet is given a clean bill of health and is sleeping soundly in his father's arms in the waiting room. Angela has fallen asleep on the couch in the waiting room beside her mother. Alex is trying to comfort Jimmy about all that has happened in the last few days when the doctor comes in to update them on Ranger Hawks.

"She is pretty lucky, the bullet passed cleanly through her thigh, doing very little damage. She lost a lot of blood and will be sore for a while but that is about all. Her recovery could take a little longer than normal due to all the scar tissue she has on that leg. Was she in some kind of car accident?"

"No, she was wounded in the first Gulf war," stated Jimmy flatly.

"Well from the amount of scarring, she is lucky they were able to save it," the doctor said honestly.

When the doctor leaves, Alex turns to Jimmy and asks, "So Jimmy, tell me about this old partner of yours?"

Jimmy gets a small grin on his face and says "Alex, you are really going to like her. She is one of the best friends, I've ever had.

"So, tell me how you two became such good friends," asked Alex impatiently.

"We met in the DPS academy, and hit it off right off the bat. We were a little older than most of the cadets in our class so we kind of hung out together. I had just gotten out of the NFL and she had just been given her medical discharge from the Marine Corps."

"Was that because of her leg?" asked Alex.

"Yeah, she was a helicopter pilot over there. All I know about it is, her helicopter crashed and her leg was hurt pretty badly. She never wanted to talk about it much, so I didn't ask about it much. She was still trying to get her leg back in shape when we went through the academy. She had just finished her rehab therapy and all that physical training was pretty hard on her. Our PT instructor kept telling her she would never make it, but that just made her that much more determined," continued Jimmy. "When we graduated, she had improved from the slowest time on the obstacle course to the second fastest time."

"Let me guess who had the fastest time," joked Alex.

Jimmy grinned and said, "I just had a bad shoulder, there wasn't anything wrong with my legs."

"Well, Blue sounds like a really strong willed woman," said Alex.

"You have no idea, Alex. But, I guess Blue had to be strong," stated Jimmy. "You know, I never realized it before but, she and Walker have a lot in common."

"Oh really, like what?" asks Alex curiously.

"They both seem to show up just when I need them the most and they are both orphans. Her parents were killed when Blue was eight years old. She and her parents went into a convenience store to get some soft drinks one afternoon and two armed robbers came in right behind them and started shooting. Everyone in the store was killed except for Blue. Her mother had managed to shield Blue from the shooting," explained Jimmy.

"What an awful thing for such a little girl to go through," said Alex.

"Yeah, it was pretty hard on her. The only known relative she had was a grandfather that lived in Kentucky. So she left Dallas and moved there to live with him. He was a former Marine, and a retired Kentucky State Trooper," explained Jimmy.

"Well, I guess that sheds some light on her career choices," joked Alex, "but why did she come back to Dallas?"

"Her grandfather died of cancer just before she graduated from college. He left her everything he had, but she couldn't stand to live in that house alone, so she sold everything, put the money in the bank and joined the marines. That's where she got her nickname. They gave her a hard time about her Kentucky accent and called her 'Bluegrass'." Jimmy continued, "She eventually got it shortened to just 'Blue'.

"I wondered why someone with such dark brown eyes would be called 'Blue'," stated Alex.

"When she got out of the Marines, she called the only person she had left, that she considered family. That was the Texas Ranger that had found her in the convenience store after her parents had been killed. His name was CD Parker."

"You're kidding?" exclaimed Alex.

"Nope," Jimmy explained. "Blue is the person that introduced me to CD."

Walker and Gage are talking about what they might be facing in the coming weeks, if Blue is right about the terrorist network. They are interrupted by a weak, but irritated voice.

"Would you two keep it down, I'm trying to sleep," said a groggy Sydney.

Still in deep discussion with Walker, Gage responds, "Hang on, Shorty." Than, realizing that Sydney is finally awake he rushes to her bedside as Walker goes out in the hall to summon a nurse or doctor.

"Syd, you're awake. How are you feeling?" ask Gage softly.

"Like I just got run over by a bus," Sydney replied.

A doctor and a nurse came in and asked Gage to leave so that they could examine Sydney. Reluctantly Gage followed Walker out the door.

"I think I'll go tell Alex and Trivette that Sydney is awake. This might be just what Trivette needs to perk him up a bit," Walker says as he heads down the hallway to the elevator.

"Thanks Boss, I'll stay here with Syd and fill her in on what has been going on," Gage replied.

Walker came into the waiting room just as Jimmy was explaining how Blue and CD had encouraged him to try for the Rangers.

"See, Blue wanted to try out for the Rangers, but you know how CD felt about women rangers. So he kept trying to talk her out of it. Well, the more he talked, the more determined she was to do it," explained Jimmy. "I tried to stay out of it, but CD talked me into trying out for the Rangers, too. He was trying to protect her; because he thought it would be to dangerous if she became a ranger. He thought if I made it and she didn't, she would give up on the idea."

"Well, that obviously backfired," joked Alex.

"Yeah, it backfired on CD and me. She never really forgave either one of us." Jimmy continued, "She thought that CD had called one of his ranger friends and made sure she didn't make the cut. So, when the next ranger position came open, she applied for it and got it before she told either one of us about it. She moved to El Paso just before Walker and I became partners, and we just kind of lost touch. Except for a few E-mails I hadn't heard from her until tonight at your house."

Walker had been listening at the door of the waiting room. When Jimmy had finished his story Walker asked, "Are you saying that Ranger Samantha Hawks is the little girl that CD called 'Little Sammi'?"

Jimmy turned to face Walker and said, "Yes she is, but only CD was allowed to call her that."

"You didn't know her?" Alex asked Walker.

"Not really, I only met her once. She came out to spend the summer with CD one year, but she was just a little girl than," explained Walker. "He used to talk about her a lot, but I didn't even know her last name." Changing the subject Walker said, "I came down to tell you both that Sydney woke up about ten minutes ago. I left Gage with her. I thought they might need some time alone," Walker said with a grin.

It was almost fifteen minutes before Gage was allowed back inside Sydney's room. He paced up and down the hallway trying to figure out what he was going to say, but when the nurse told him that he could go back in, he still didn't have a clue. The nurses had helped her sit up in the bed, and she looked up at him with that beautiful smile of hers. Gage summoned all his courage and decided it was now or never!

"Hey Syd, are you feeling any better now?" he asked softly.

"Yeah, a little better," she replied. "But I had one crazy dream."

"Oh, yeah? Was I in it?" Gage said with a grin.

"Yeah, I think so, but mostly I remember Trivette telling me I wasn't in Ranger heaven or something like that," said Sydney, obviously confused.

"That wasn't a dream. You see, Trivette is still alive, and he's still one of the good guys. He and Walker cooked that whole thing up because the Chavez brothers were threatening Trivette's family."

"So that guy on the helicopter with Walker was Trivette?" asked Sydney.

"Yep!" replied Gage.

"Did we get the Chavez brothers?" Sydney asked hopefully.

"Well, after Mario shot you, then Trivette shot and killed Mario. Unfortunately Miguel escaped and may be linking up with some terrorist network," explained Gage.

Sydney let out a sigh of defeat, "I think I'll just go back to sleep."

"Oh no you don't, we need to talk about a few things first," said Gage in a forceful tone. He softened his tone and started, "When I thought I was going to lose you, I realized that you were the most important thing in my life. I just couldn't imagine what I would do if you weren't there for me. We've both known there was something more than just friendship between us for a long time now and I can't stand to wait any longer."

Gage paused to give Sydney a chance to say something, when she didn't he continued, "Sydney Cooke, I love you. I love you more than anything else in this world and...and I want to marry you." Gage dropped to one knee and asked, "Will you marry me?"

Sydney was shocked, and tears rolled down her cheeks. This was too sudden. She didn't know what to say. Yes, she knew she loved Gage, and had known for a long time. But, was she ready for that? She looked into Gage's eyes and knew what she should say, what she wanted to say.
But instead, with tears in her eyes, she said, "I'm sorry Gage. I don't think I'm ready for marriage, yet."

Heartbroken, Gage slowly stood up and left the room without a single word. Sydney watched the door close behind him and broke down in tears. Softly, between sobs she said to herself, "I love you too, Gage."