And now, the conclusion... :)

Chapter 15

Closer Than A Brother

Soft warmth cradling me. Bright sunshine somewhere above me, but no longer annoying. Salty sweat, old leather, and traces of gasoline drifted to my nose. "Dad..."

"What?"

The voice was distant and still a bit muffled. "You came to get me..."

Laughter. Another voice, somewhere closer, "Of course we came to get you." The laughter stilled uncomfortably. "I don't think that's what she meant," said yet another voice. "We have to wake her up!" Another voice.

"Dad..." Something drifted over the light pouring onto me, making everything black. I stretched comfortably and leaned into my dad's leather bomber. "I knew you'd be the one to get me, only I'll miss everyone so much..."

The first voice, slightly clearer, deep and smooth came. "Jes' sleep, Gadget. Wake up when yeh're ready."

"'Kay..." I replied and smiled. My dad was here. Everything was fine.

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A soft, cool paw was tracing a path around my hair. "Oh, dear," a woman said softly. "She'll have that scar for months. If we'd only known..."

"We did know. And I let him take her," said a bitter, high-pitched, tight voice from a ways off. "I shouldn't have ever even-"

"Chip! It is my fault as much as anyone's. I should have sent you home promptly."

"Ah, mates, don't bicker over it. She'll be all righ'. She's a fighter, that one."

"Yeah. She'll be -gulp- fine."

"Buzz-buzz."

Buzzing? I opened my eyes, only to see Sophia leaning over me, pale and still wearing her ball gown, now more than slightly worse for wear.

"What happened?" I rasped, tasting salt on my lips.

There was a general roar of excitement, as the Rangers all rushed over to the couch I was lying on, eager to see me. I found myself sitting up, my paws crushed in Monterey's, being pushed into the couch by a triple hug from Chip, Dale, and Sophia, and Zipper nestled into my bangs, buzzing happily. I didn't mind, until in their exuberance, someone jarred my sore arm.

"Aah!" I cried out without meaning to. Simultaneously, everyone let go of me, flinging themselves back so fast that Dale fell over on his back.

"Oh, your arm!" exclaimed Sophia. She reached over and gingerly touched my left arm; it was bandaged heavily. "We noticed when Chip pulled you out of the water that it was beaten."

I looked up at Chip in surprise. "You pulled me out of the water? But...but I don't remember. I had passed out."

"By the time we got to you, yes." Chip's voice shook uncertainly. "We were on a raft hiding in the rocks. The waves were so bad that we couldn't get to you fast enough. You had just gone under the last time when I grabbed you." His dark eyes were huge, and the fur just under them was matted and streaked. He'd been crying.

"Oh, Chip, thank you. Thank you," I whispered reverently, and I got off the couch and threw my good arm around him, hugging him the best I could. The roles were reversed, and Chip knew now how I had felt that afternoon in the Russian hospital when he had finally woken up, hoarse and battered. He sobbed into my shoulder, not bother to hide his tears from the others.

"Gadget-luv, we thought we 'ad lost yeh," choked Monterey, coming to stand beside us. Dale moved in too, his own eyes reddened with tears.

"You nearly did...I was drowning." Chip squeezed me tightly. "But you saved me. How did you follow me? Jules," we all cringed at the name, "said he had sabotaged the Ranger Wing."

"Yes," said Sophia bitterly, standing up. Chip let go of me and I face them all. "He has ruined your plane. None of them could fix it. But I am not completely stupid, my dear." Her eyes snapped with fire. "I can pull strings. As an actress, I often have need of a quick lift somewhere. I have a walkie-talkie connected to the local human police. We simply radioed them and reported a bad brush fire. When they arrived, we got on the car. There was, of course, no fire. Then my assistants radioed again, saying there was a car chase on the road near the beach. They took us right to you. We watched you arrive, and built a raft to wait on."

"You genius!" I exclaimed, genuinely surprised and grateful, and gave her a one-armed hug. "We couldn't have done that."

"Oh, thank you," she said bashfully, blushing. "But you are the genius. The genius we almost lost. For a moment, we were very afraid. You thought you had died."

"I did? I don't remember that."

"Yeah!" Dale bubbled, jumping up and down once, "You thought Chip was your dad!"

"I what?"

"We couldn't figger out why, Gadget-luv, but when yeh came 'round fer a few minutes on the raft, yeh 'ad yer eyes shut an' thought Geegaw was 'oldin you. It was jus' Chipper."

I looked at Chip, still standing close to me. I couldn't make heads or tails of that one. And then I smelled the gasoline from the police car (smelled like my dad's plane gasoline), salty sweat from the heat (it was hot in my dad's cockpit), and the old leather of Chip's bomber jacket... like my dad's. Just like my dad's. That realization was somehow the last piece of the puzzle that had been hiding inside of me. Almost a reassurance that my dad approved.

A smile spread across my face. "I think I can," I said. I hugged Chip again with no embarrassment and turned my head to whisper in his ear. "You smell like my dad did when he would come back from a long flight." His cheeks twinged red as I pulled away. "And what about Bubbles? And Jules?"

Dale sniggered. "Bubbles isn't the only one good at ruining things!" he said proudly. "Monty and I took care of them. They were on a ship in the harbor, and Monty and I pushed an open safe down on top of them. They're stuck!"

"'An heaved 'em into the fishin' boat's belly!" finished Monterey. "We won't be hearin' from them anytime soon, luv."

"And I have notified, through my acquaintances, some fishermice near England. They're a rough bunch; they'll take care of them when they get there," added Sophia. "We're safe."

I nodded. Somehow, I didn't feel traumatized. "I feel safe. I'll always be safe as long as you're around to protect me. You're my friends, my family, my everything." I turned back to Chip, who was smiling, relieved. Sophia watched us closely, hope dawning in her eyes.

Eager to show Chip how much I appreciated him, and that I was still more than willing to pick up where we had left off the evening before, I wrapped both of my arms around his neck tightly, ignoring the discomfort in my left arm. "And you," I whispered, my voice tight with emotion, "have become...so close to me. Closer than a brother. You've stuck with me, been patient and understanding and selfless...you've grown up." He gulped and returned my embrace. I heard Sophia usher everyone away.

"I love you, Gadget," he said quietly, drawing away far enough for me to see his dark eyes. And then, with silent, unassuming and unrehearsed motion, we each reached for the other.

One innocent, loving kiss was all it took for me to know that life was standing in front of me, offering me a clear shot at the stars. Chip drew away, smiling at me contentedly. "I love you, Chip," I whispered.

Chip offered no comment, but brushed his paw through my hair slowly, seeming almost hypnotized. I felt a blush rise on my cheeks as I looked down at the lock of hair in his paw. We stood together, strands of energy and light seeming to connect us, and I was aware of nothing else until Sophia giggled out in the hallway. Serenely happy, I called out to her, not moving. "Sophia, come back in here." She deserved to see this, right?

She appeared slowly, blushing hotly but beaming. Chip tore his eyes from me to regard the actress standing next to us. "Sophia, that dress you found," he looked at me meaningfully, "looked incredible on her. Do you still have it?"

"Uhm..."

"It's in your bathroom, Sophia. Don't worry, I didn't tear it when I took it off."

"Good," said Chip. "Because I'd really like to see you in it again someday, okay? And I think," he fished in the pocket of his bomber and extracted a small, black box, "that this would go very well with it." He flipped the top of the box off with a flourish.

Sophia gasped, and some sort of high-pitched something escaped me. Chip watched me closely, as if judging my reaction to the tiny diamond ring resting in the box. I stared at it wondrously. So much of me wanted it; but a tiny voice reminded me not to rush into anything.

"When you're ready," Chip said. "When you want."

I struggled to say something pertinent, but all that came out was, "You had it in your pocket all this time?"

"What don't I have in this coat?" he asked sarcastically.

"True," I agreed.

"Yes, I've had it for a while now. Ever since we got the invitation to come here. I didn't know if it was time yet, but a formal dance in the southern France, you know..."

"Was that what you were going for in the garden?" I asked him.

"Maybe. I had the idea, but I was just waiting to hear you say-"

"'I love you?'"

He grinned. "Yes."

"I love you," I affirmed, smiling at him.

"Does that mean you're ready?"

Sophia was clenching her teeth together to keep from a girlish scream, and was bobbing up and down on her feet. I threw a grin in her direction before taking a deep breath and looking back at Chip. "Chip, I love you, and I do want to marry you, but I'm not ready yet." I paused a moment. "I know you've grown up, but I'm not sure I've grown enough yet."

To my immense relief, Chip smiled. "All right. Besides, that gives me more time to perfect my proposal."

I laughed. "Perfect it? What do you have so far?"

He grinned mischievously. "Well, it would start out with: 'Gadget Hackwrench, you are the most incredibly intelligent, gorgeous, absent-minded-'" I laughed at him, he grinned and continued, "'compassionate, unique, and wonderful girl I know.'"

"Golly, that's a lot of adjectives," I giggled, blushing deeper than ever.

He laughed too. "And the world didn't know the meaning of them until you came along."

"Oh, that's sweet-" Sophia whispered. I'd forgotten she was there.

Chip spared her glance before finishing. "And then of course I'd get down on one knee, tell you how much I love you, ask you, and...well, hopefully you'll say yes."

I stifled the joyous laughter bubbling inside of me and answered. "Of course I'll say yes. When it's the right time." I looked him in the eye. "And the ring is beautiful, by the way."

"I hoped you'd like it. I thought about maybe getting a suspension setting so you could take the diamond out and use it to focus lasers, but-"

"Chip! Do you really think I'd do that to my engagement ring?"

He offered no response but grinned slyly.

"Okay, okay, enough of that, Mr. Bond. I promise not to use my diamond to focus lasers. I'll even write it into my wedding vows: 'I vow to never use my wedding ring, engagement ring, or any other jewelry for diabolic purposes...'"

A snort of laughter from the hallway burst my bubble, and Chip and I turned to find the rest of the Rangers standing in the doorway. Dale had his eyes squeezed shut and was silently pounding the doorframe, Zipper was on his back on the floor, arms clenching his stomach, and Monty was laughing through tears.

"Hey! Can't a guy get any privacy around here!" exclaimed Chip merrily.

"Don' mind us, mate! We're just the local paparazzi!" shouted Monty.

"That's right!" rejoined Sophia. "I can see the headlines now: Leader of the Rescue Rangers proposes to Beautiful Inventor."

"If you're the paparazzi," I asked, "where's your cameras?"

"Yeah, a picture's worth a thousand words!" added Chip.

"Then smile, guys!" exclaimed Dale, and pulled his bow-tie camera from the pocket of his Hawaiian shirt.

Before I could say anything, Chip had dipped my back in his arms, and a camera flashed explosively from the vicinity of the doorway. Sophia laughed, high and clear, like churchbells on a wedding day. At least, that's what it sounded like to me.

End

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