Title: A stranger's opinion

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters on "Walker Texas Ranger", I'm just borrowing them for the story.

Gage, Walker and Trivette were in Walker's truck, waiting patiently for Leonard Anderson to arrive with the stuff he was going to sell to Johnny Lawrence, or at least that's what he thought.

"Here he comes." Walker said in a calm voice. One man who looked to be in charge was walking up to the mansion with three others following behind. Trivette opened the car-door "Not yet" Walker said "We'll let them wait a few minutes before we go in."

Trivette nodded and Gage leaned back and took a sip from his coke. He couldn't get Sydney and Becky out of his head. He hoped Syd was telling her the truth now, about everything including where Johnny and his wife were right now.

"Alright, it's time." Walker announced and stepped out of the truck. Trivette made sure his weapon worked and followed.

The three Rangers crossed the lawn and jumped over a small shrubbery to get to the kitchen door. Gage turned the knob and opened the door for Walker and Trivette who entered without a sound.

The four men were in the hall, waiting for Johnny. Walker entered the room first, walked slowly across the floor and approached Leonard Anderson.

The look on the man's face was priceless. He had obviously met Johnny before and knew this was not him, just like they had counted on.

"Who the hell are you?" he asked upset and glared with cold, threatening eyes at Walker. Walker locked eyes with him and stopped in front of him.

"My name is Walker." He signalled for Trivette and Gage to appear. "Who are you?"

"Leo Anderson."

"Well, Leo. You see, I'm a Texas Ranger. And you're under arrest." Walker watched the man's eyes grow wild and big as saucers as he spoke. He took a step back and yelled at his men.

"Get them!!" Then he tried to punch Walker in the face, but he ducked and came up behind him, surprising him and twisted his arm behind his back.

Gage and Trivette joined Walker in the fight. Two guys attacked Gage but he avoided the first one and caused him to run into a drawer. He kicked the other one in the head, knocking him out. None of the men seemed to be trained in the martial arts, more like they thought they were. That was a good thing, he didn't really feel like getting into a real fight today any way, didn't want to scare Becky with a bruised face and a bleeding lip when he came home later.

Sydney would probably just shake her head and say something like "Can't leave you alone for a single day".

The toy store:

Sydney and Sylvia found Becky looking at a doll which had been placed on the top shelf. She saw Sydney was coming and pointed up at the doll. "I want that one, please."

"Wow, you decided fast. We weren't gone long." Sylvia commented and smiled at the enthusiasm in the girl's face as the jumped up and down and pointed at the doll which was too high up for her to reach.

"Can I have her, Sydney? Please."

"Of course you can, honey. I told you to pick something out and I don't go back on my word."

"Thank you. Her name is Sydney." She said with pride. Tears filled the Ranger's eyes when she heard those words coming from this little girl's mouth. Sylvia noticed her sister was fighting back tears and caught the girl's eye.

"Sydney, that's a pretty name. What made you think of it?" she joked.

"She told me that's her name." She said.

"Oh, I see. So it's got nothing to do with my sister's name?" she laughed.

Becky shook her head "It must be a coincidence." She said in a very adult tone.

Sydney dried her tears and looked up again.

"So, let's get it down from there and pay for it, then we can leave." She said and reached for the doll.

They spent the rest of the day going from shop to shop until they were all so tired that they collapsed on a park bench with an ice-cream and two cups of coffee.

"So what do you say? Do you want to come over to my place and have dinner tonight?" Sylvia asked her sister and niece.

Sydney looked at Becky who nodded eagerly. "We'd love to but I promised Gage he could spend the evening at my apartment. He doesn't seem to mind sleeping on the couch."

"Invite him, it's fine with me. Last time we talked it was during some very sad circumstances if you know what I mean and I want to get to know him a little better." She took her sister's hand and looked into her beautiful eyes. Sydney looked back into a pair of eyes that reminded of her own. "It'll be fun. I'll cook then you won't have to, how does that sound?"

Sydney laughed. She knew she couldn't hide anything from Sylvia, they knew each other too well. Her sister knew she could cook but also that it wasn't her most favourite thing in the world to do. But she would change that now that she had her daughter. She would learn to cook more kind of food that kids liked, she wasn't sure what that was but she would look it up some where.

"Alright, you've convinced me. I'll ask him." She glanced at the child sitting beside her, quietly eating her ice-cream. She didn't seem very interested in their conversation right now. She lowered her voice a bit just in case and turned to her sister. "There is something else I have to tell you."

Sylvia raised a brow. "What? Is it about Gage?"

"Yeah. We've sort of become more than friends lately..." she never got to finish what she was about to say because Becky jumped up in her lap and threw her arms around Sydney's neck with delight.

"I knew it! You are marrying Ranger Gage!!" she screamed so loud that an old man who walked by stopped and gave them a stern look.

"I think we're moving a little too fast here now, sweetie. We're not getting married." She assured her daughter. A pout quickly appeared and made the Ranger's heart melt. "Hey, I didn't say there wasn't something between us, but we're not talking marriage." She said and caressed the girl's cheek. A smile immediately replaced the pout.

"Oh, Sydney that's great news. The way you've talked about him the last year, it doesn't exactly come as a surprise."

Sydney rolled her eyes. Sylvia always knew what she was thinking, some times even before she had thought it. She had never told her sister how she felt about Gage, only that he was a great partner, and maybe added a "few" good details now and then.

Sydney let go of Becky and hugged Sylvia. Things were finally looking up, her life was perfect right now and she wanted it to stay that way.

A man in a white cowboy hat walked by them and reminded her of the situation at Johnny's house. All the shopping they had done today had managed to keep her mind off it. She had wanted to be there with the rest of them but spending time with Becky was more important now. She reached inside her pocket and took out her cell-phone.

"Who are you calling?" Sylvia asked.

"Gage. I want to know how things are going over there."

"Are you sure you should do that? What if they're in the middle of something, maybe hiding and his phone starts ringing. Won't that ruin things?"

Sydney grinned at her sister's caution. "Gage has been a Ranger long enough to know that you turn your phone off if there is any risk of that. If I get through then they're probably still in the car or finished." She glanced at her watch. "And they should be done by now."

Gage answered his phone.

"Hi, it's me, Sydney."

"Oh hi. How's your day been?"

"Great, we've done lots of shopping and right now we're having coffee and ice-cream in the park. How about you? Everything go the way we hoped?"

"Yeah, we got him. These drugs aren't getting out on the streets." He said and let out some air through his mouth. It was a relief knowing that was over. "So did you tell her?"

"No not yet, I'll do it tonight." She could hear him sigh at the other end. "Look, I'll do it but right now there is something else I want to talk to you about."

"And what's that?"

"Sylvia has invited us over for dinner at her place tonight. What do you think about it? Wanna go?"

"Sure I do, if you'll be there then of course I will too." He said. Hearing him say that made her shiver and smile.

"Good..." she received a tap on her shoulder and turned to her sister again. "Yeah?"

"I was thinking...lets invite the other Rangers too. And the Ranger Walker's wife too, what's her name...Alex. I'd like to thank them for all their help."

"That's a great idea. I'll tell Gage to ask Walker and Trivette right away."

Becky tugged on her sleeve. "Are we going to a party, Sydney?" she asked, excited.

"Well, sort of, we're having dinner at Sylvia's later, if you want to?"

Becky delayed her answer a moment and studied her fingernails. "Sydney..." she started.

"Yes" she answered and tousled the girl's hair. Becky looked so thoughtful and worried that she completely forgot about the phone she was holding in her hand.

"I want to go with you but what about my mom and dad? When am I going to see them again? I can't be late home you know, they'll awful mad at me then." She said with a frown. It seemed like just talking about her parents scared her because she reached for Sydney's hand and held it tight. "Not that I want to go back, but I have to, don't I?"

Sydney took a deep breath. "No, honey. You don't have to go back. There is something I need to talk to you about." She handed the phone to Sylvia and told her to please finish the conversation and then go home. They would meet her there later in the evening.

Sydney led her child over to a more private part of the park and then sat the child down on the edge of a huge statue for the talk she had been avoiding for so long.

To be continued