I have spent the last week in the hospital.

You see I was shot in the shoulder by a gun crazy skip that decided that they weren't going down without a fight.

Lula had been shot as well and was rushed to the hospital, she had to have surgery on her leg as the bullet hit some bone, but overall she is going to be ok.

I was relieved.

I could vaguely remember a lot of blood surrounding her and screams of pain. Lula screaming was not a sound I was going to forget in the near future.

My injury turned out to be a little more complicated. Eddie had been in to tell me the story.

Apparently I had passed out before he noticed I had been shot. He and Big Dog had rushed me to the hospital in a police car with the sirens flashing. (I had always wanted to do that pity I wasn't awake)

Once we got to the hospital I had lost a lot of blood and hadn't fully come around.

Apparently I had been a little disorientated and kept telling them to call Ranger. Eddie said he tried but kept getting his answering machine.

The bullet had hit me in the shoulder and hadn't gone straight through, so they had to operate to remove it.

After the surgery I got an infection in the wound and spent the next three days in a cloudy fever. I can't remember much from those three days, but according to Connie and my Grandmother I got pretty intent on leaving the hospital. Apparently I tried to escape several times. (Yes in my backless gown) and had gone wondering, they had found me each time, but the physical excursion I went through to escape had made my fever and infection worse. In the end they decided to sedate me and have a nurse stand guard on my door. Not the most ideal situation to spend your time recovering.

Today was my last day in hospital my fever had gone down and the infection had passed I was excited by the idea of going home. But dreading that I would end up at my parents place. In the past I would have gone to Joe's or had Rangers men to look after me, but I was yet to see either one at the hospital, and no one had mentioned them coming to visit me.

I guess they took my needing space idea seriously.

If I was honest with myself I was a little hurt.

I mean I was shot,

I could have died.

But I guess that's what you get for asking for space.

I should be happy they took me seriously right.

But deep down I was terrified What if they had moved on already, what if they didn't need me in their lives anymore. What if I really needed them more than I had realized and now it was too late to tell them? Did I mention how crazy I am going being couped up in this place. I really needed to go home so that I could stop what ifing. It was making me depressed.

It turned out that I was safe to go to my apartment as long as I stayed quiet and got a lot of rest. Lula had gone to stay with her sister in Miami.

I never even knew she had a sister.

My father drove me to my apartment and walked me up. He had actually stacked my fridge with all my favorite foods and had an alarm system installed. I was shocked and got a little teary eyed. He had asked me to call if I needed anything and promised to keep my mother away for as long as he could.

Have I mentioned how great my dad is?

So here I am sitting alone in my apartment watching ghost busters and trying not to stress about my life. I wasn't any closer to figuring out what I wanted and I was all starting to feel sick from all the junk food I had been eating.

After watching ghost busters for the fifth time I decided I needed some air. I couldn't drive yet so I decided I would walk to the bakery and get a semi healthy snack. Some kind of pastry with fruit in it.

I got about half way to the bakery before I decided, maybe wasn't such a good idea. My head was starting to pound and my shoulder was starting to throb. I made my way to the nearest chair and sat down.

Ok Stephanie think.

I couldn't call Lula she was out of town; I wasn't calling my parents, as I would just end up staying with them. Mary Lou was on vacation. That left Connie, Vinnie Joe and Ranger.

No way was I calling Vinnie or Connie.

Ranger or Joe.

I decided and called the next best person for the job. I just wasn't sure if he would help me.

'What' he answered

'Tank' I asked hesitantly

'Bombshell' he asked, he sounded a little surprised

'Yeah Tank its me, I need a ride are you free'

I heard some movement in the background before Tank came back on line.

'Where are you' he asked quietly as if he was whispering

'Just down the road from my apartment'

'Ill be there soon' and he disconnected.

I looked at my phone. Tank had sounded a little strange. I felt a twinge of guilt, what if he had been in the middle of something.

I waited for eight minutes and spotted a black SUV roll past. It chucked a ewey and made its way back to my position. I went to stand up but nearly passed out from the throbbing in my head. Tank jumped out and made his way over to me. He pushed me back down onto the chair and sat down beside me. After a couple minutes he spoke.

'What happened'?

I looked up at him and shrugged 'I tried to walk to the bakery but got halfway and decided it wasn't such a good idea'

Tank looked a little surprised, 'I know you don't like to exercise much Steph but that's a little pathetic'

I couldn't help feeling hurt, I mean I had just been shot, spent a week in hospital and spent the last twelve hours stuffing my face with junk food while watching ghost busters, forgive me if I wasn't feeling one hundred percent.

It never occurred to me that Tank hadn't heard about the shooting.

In a huff I stood up and started to walk away from him while mumbling about shitty men.

Tank must have seen my arm strapped to my body for the first time as he gasped and ran to me and placed his arm around me in a supportive motion.

'Hold on Steph, you want to tell me what's going on'

'I was shot' I grumbled still in a bit of a mood.

'When did this happen' he asked concerned

One look at his concerned face and I felt all my crankiness melt away. He looked worried about me.

'It was a skip, he shot Lula and I after we brought him in, I was in the hospital for a week and got home last night. I was trying to walk to the bakery but found it too hard so I called you, I had no one else to call, I'm sorry' I felt the tears starting and turned to walk away again. Tank had other ideas and held me still.

'Not so fast, let me give you a lift'

I nodded and we headed to the truck. Tank drove me to the bakery and got me some apple pie. He drove me back to my apartment and walked me upstairs. He pushed me into a chair and disappeared into the kitchen. Ten minutes later he came back out with a coffee and two plates, he dished out the apple pie (half each) and we ate in silence. Once we were finished eating Tank sat back in his chair and looked at me seriously. I felt a little uncomfortable with the silence so I tried some conversation.

'I hope I didn't interrupt any thing when I called you'

Tank shook his head and smiled 'Nothing that couldn't be delayed'

'Where you alone' I found myself asking

'No' was all Tank offered as a response.

We sat in silence for a few more minutes. Tank watched me.

'Thanks for coming to pick me up, I would have called Joe, but we haven't spoken in over a week'

He remained silent. Watching me, I couldn't stand it any longer.

'What's going on' I asked

Tank frowned 'Explain'

You see I was nervous, to me it seemed a little odd that neither Ranger nor Joe had shown up at the hospital. It was even more strange that Tank hadn't known I had been shot. Usually Ranger or his men know everything that goes on around me and are the first ones to show up to a scene. When I got nervous I also tended to ramble, and when I rambled I said things that I didn't necessarily want to say.

'How come you didn't know I had been shot, you merry men always know what's going on, and how come Ranger wasn't at the hospital, I mean I know I asked him to take a step back but I didn't mean for him to stop coming at all. My spidery senses are going crazy and here you are sitting with me and eating pie, What's going on'

Tank watched me a moment before saying 'I have been out of town, so has Ranger. We were unreachable. That's why we didn't know what happened'

'That's it' I asked

'That's all I am going to say' he face was stony.

'Is Ranger back in town' I asked hesitantly

'He's on a job'

'In Trenton'

No response.

'Ok I understand you cant tell me what's going on. Thanks for the pie and for coming to my rescue, I am sure you want to get back to whatever it was that you were doing'

Tank nodded and rose from his chair 'If you need anything give me a call, if I cant come one of the guys will'

I was going to ask what about Ranger, but bit my tongue, I figured if Tank didn't mention him he must be in the wind.

I smiled, thanked Tank again and he left.