Disclaimer: I own no one but the unnamed guy who gets shot in the first chapter and the one who got arrested last one. And the various cops, paramedics, and screaming mobs which appear throughout the last few chapters.

I apologize in advance if everyone seems really emotional and OOC in the chapter. I just felt like making an emotional Ranger. And, obviously, sad Ranger must be comforted, so he just sort of pulled everyone along with him in his expedition into the world of emotions. Yeah…I'll shut up now.

tippex-groupie: In this chapter, Ranger is, as I said above, super emotional. Hopefully it's not too bad. I'm not planning on having him be so fluffy later on (though he shall be more fluffy than he is in the books, cause he's like…fluffless in the books.) (Btw, what does OTT mean? I got the basic message of your comment, but I don't know what that means.)

Also, I know that Stephanie's mom's name switches between Ellen and Helen, so I'm just going to say that her name is Ellen.

Chapter 4

I'd only been waiting a few minutes when Tank and Emily came in. Emily placed a hand on my back.

"She'll be ok, Ric." I could tell she was trying to comfort me (a good thing, because I was almost crying), but I wasn't feeling like being comforted.

I raised my head and glared at her. "Yeah? How do you know?" She must have seen the tears in my eyes, because she sat down in the chair next to me and hugged me. I can't remember the last time I've been hugged just for comfort. Probably, it's been years.

"You really love her, don't you?" I considered snapping at her again, but then I just nodded sadly. I looked in the direction of where Stephanie had been taken. The truth is, I should be used to her getting hurt, or at least, shouldn't react this strongly. But at the moment, I didn't feel like being logical.

I looked back towards the door as someone else came into the waiting room. As I did, I caught sight of Tank, looking utterly helpless. He'd once told me (the last time I got emotional, which was when Stiva took Stephanie) that trying to deal with an emotional woman was bad but dealing with me was impossible. I'd have laughed at the look on his face if I weren't so worried. Then I was distracted from that sight as Bobby and Lester ran over to me.

"Is she ok?" Both of them looked anxious, as is understandable.

I started to shrug and then Emily glared at me. She spoke. "Yes. She'll be fine. Lover boy is just worried." At the nickname, one which she's called me several times in reference to Stephanie, I returned the glare.

Everyone was quiet for a moment, and then Lester spoke. "So, do we know what's wrong with her yet? Tank said it was really bad."

At the memory of finding her, the tears came back, though I didn't let them fall. My anguish must have shown on my face, though, because everyone glared at Lester (except Lester himself, as I think that would be impossible).

"Nice work." That was Bobby.

Lester looked apologetic. "Sorry, Ric. I wasn't thinking."

Tank rolled his eyes. "Obviously."

Just then, the doors opened again and Stephanie's mom, dad, grandmother (shudder), sister, nieces, and Albert Kloughn, all ran in. They spotted our group and came over.

"Is she ok? What happened? All I heard was that she was in the hospital. Whoever called needs to work on their conversational skills." As Stephanie's mother said this, we all looked at Tank, who was grinning. It was a complaint he'd gotten many times.

As though on cue, the doctor came out. Her stride faltered for a moment. When she'd taken Stephanie, it had been only me. Now, there were twelve of us. She recovered, however, and had just reached us when the doors opened again. Connie and Lula burst in, saw us, and ran over. The doctor just stared, mouth open slightly. Probably, it was the sight of Lula, who was in all spandex: a hot pink animal print tube top and matching pants. Seconds later, as thought they'd come in the same car (I guess it was possible), Vinnie also ran in.

I looked at Tank. "How many people did you call? Everyone in Trenton?"

He shrugged, though he looked sort of embarrassed. "This is it. I just called the people who I thought should know." We looked at the doctor, who'd recovered from her Lula-induced speechlessness.

"Miss Plum has five broken ribs, a black eye, a concussion, and various lacerations. As far as we can tell, after several blows to the head, she fell to the ground. She was then kicked." She looked at me. "If you'd gotten there a minute later, she probably would have gotten kicked one more time. If that had happened, one of the broken ribs would have punctured a lung. It is very likely that she'd have died then."

"Is she ok now?" My voice had cracked while I asked the question, drawing everyone's attention from the doctor to me.

Connie and Lula stared me, and then looked at each other. Lula whispered (or attempted to. I think Lula may be incapable of whispering) "Batman's crying!" It wasn't exactly true, but it was close.

The doctor nodded. "We have her on pain medicine, so she may not be entirely lucid, but you can visit her if you want." Looking at the size of our group, she added. "Only two at a time, however." She returned her attention to me. "Are you Ranger?" At my nod, she continued. "She specifically asked to see you."

I almost got out of my chair, then looked at her family and shook my head. "She didn't know her family was here. They should see her first."

Surprisingly, her dad shook his head. "You and Ellen go in. We can wait."

I hesitated a moment, then nodded, standing up and smiling at him. "Thank you."

When I smiled, Lula, Connie, and Valerie all let out little sighs. Albert Kloughn looked confused. Tank, Bobby, Lester, and Emily all looked highly amused.

Ignoring all of them, I followed the doctor. We (we being me, the doctor, and Ellen) reached Stephanie's room and the doctor opened the door, checked on Stephanie and then told us we could go in. We did so, and then she left.

Ellen walked to Stephanie's bed and I stood by the door, looking at Stephanie. Seeing her, even though she had a bunch of machines hooked up to her, relaxed the hysteria I'd been feeling before and, though I was still worried about Stephanie, I was no longer at risk of crumpling to the floor and sobbing. Ellen carefully smoothed Stephanie's hair back from her face. Stephanie opened her eyes and looked up at her mother. She smiled weakly.

"Hi mom." Then a look of confusion crossed her face and she looked around the room. Apparently, I was in the shadows, and thus invisible, because she looked up at her mom. "Where's Ranger? I asked for him." Seeming to realize how that sounded, she smiled. "Not that I'm not happy to see you."

I stepped forward and walked towards her. "Right here, Babe."

Her smile grew a little stronger. I was vaguely aware of Ellen stepping back, but I was focused on Stephanie. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah. I can't really feel any part of my body, thanks to the amounts of drugs I have in me."

Not moving any part of me except my leg, I hooked a chair with my foot and dragged it over, sitting down in it. Stephanie was silent for a moment and then started cracking up.

I raised an eyebrow, once she'd calmed down. "Clearly, those drugs are working very well."

She started laughing again, and then calmed down. "You didn't even look at it. I just got this picture in my head of you dragging it over but somehow not putting it quite where you wanted, and then missing it when you sat down and falling over." She started laughing again at the end, so it was hard to understand the words. The basic point, however, was conveyed.

I shook my head, a small smile on my face. "It wasn't that funny, Babe."

She had stopped laughing, but she was now grinning. "Yeah, it really was."

I just shook my head again then remembered her mother and, by extension, the rest of our huge group. "I have to go, the others will want to see you. I'm glad you're ok."

Stephanie frowned, then nodded. "You'll come back though, right?"

I nodded, then got up. I turned to Ellen, who was beaming, and went to the door. I held it open for Ellen, then followed her out. As we walked down the hall to the waiting room, Ellen spoke.

"I'm surprised she can laugh after that kind of experience." I didn't respond. "I have to admit, I've never really liked you. But, now that I see that you love each other, my opinion has changed."

I started to protest, then stopped. What could I say? Yes, I love her completely, but last time we had sex I treated her like a prostitute, so we don't actually have a relationship? No, I don't love her? (That would be a lie, and I wasn't too excited about lying to Stephanie's mom.) Luckily, I didn't have to say anything, because we'd reached the waiting room, where we were instantly bombarded by thirteen people asking if she was ok. By the time we'd assured them that she was, and Frank and Valerie left to see her, I was safe from needing to respond to Ellen.

It took about an hour before everyone had visited her, and by the time Connie and Lula came back, Stephanie was asleep. The doctors came and told us we might as well leave because she wouldn't wake up for the rest of the night.

Most people agreed, but Ellen shook her head. "We can't all leave her. She shouldn't wake up alone."

I stood. "I'm going to stay with her. You can too if you want, but if you don't, she's not going to wake up alone."

Ellen hesitated, then nodded. "Alright. We should all get some sleep then."

I went to Stephanie's room and the rest of them left. I reached the door, glanced in the little window and then, seeing no one, pushed it open and went in. Stephanie was sleeping, so I just sat down in the chair and watched her. I stayed awake for about an hour, and then I decided that I might as well sleep. I knew that I'd wake up if she did.

Closing my eyes, I leaned back against the chair (seriously, can't they get more comfortable chairs in here?) and was quickly asleep.

A/N: Ok, so I hope that you haven't all decided to hate me because of how emotional Ranger gets in this chapter. I just randomly decided to write it this way, so…yeah. But, as I said at the top, he'll be more in character later (though he won't be totally quiet and unemotional. Cause, remember, he's decided he wants to have a relationship with her, so he's not going to stay totally aloof.) Please review.

Also, as far as medical stuff goes; I know people aren't allowed to sleep when they have a concussion, but I don't know how long the no-sleeping period lasts. So...sorry if Stephanie starts sleeping sooner than she's actually allowed to.