Ranger must have tiptoed through his morning routine, as I didn't wake up until ten o'clock, when Ranger was already at work.

I picked up my phone and texted Tracy, and seconds later she was walking into my room. "I was waiting to hear from you", she said with a smile.

"Ranger is at work?"

"Yes. He's been there for about two hours. He didn't want to disturb you."

"Did Kai do a dressing change?"

"No. He didn't want to disturb you either. However, he and Grant have worked out a new pattern for the next two weeks, until things settle out here and Grant starts in his new job. Grant worked with you daily for the last two months, and he was missing it. He asked Kai if there was any way that he'd be able to help. So Kai and Ranger and Grant decided that Grant would take over primary care now and switch over to be your primary care doctor. He would look after you each morning and help you get to bed during the lunch period. He and Kai would look after you at night together. Eduardo is missing the regular contact as well, and he is missing hearing how your day went. Like Grant, he is going to come for dinner each night and, in the evening, he will provide a therapy appointment. He is hoping that he'll be able to smooth out any problems from earlier in the day."

"That's okay with Eduardo and Grant? They have to look for apartments."

"Grant is actually in the family room playing with the kids. He was telling me that he and Eduardo decided that Grant would buy a house, and Eduardo would rent a room in it. Owning his own house has been a dream of Grant's for some time, and with Eduardo renting he can afford a much nicer house than he would without Eduardo renting. They are also good friends and get along well. They found a beautiful spot, totally redone, for a reasonable price just five minutes from the office. It is actually just down the street from the house that Kai and Julie bought. Grant has pictures of it. He picked up the keys yesterday and he and Eduardo are packing this week and moving in on Saturday. The Gurus have all offered to help, the women have all offered to bring the kids here and look after them, and Ranger has offered to make dinner for everybody afterwards to celebrate. I somehow suspect that Ranger is thinking that Grant and Eduardo could be added on to our regular Saturday group."

"How do you feel about that?"

"Honestly? I like them a lot. They seem like solid people who have the same level of caring for others that everyone else in our Saturday group has."

I laughed quietly. "Our group sure has grown since it was you and Joe and Tank and Amelia."

Tracy grinned. "It has, but each of those people are wonderful people. To tell you the truth, I am thrilled to know that I have so many close friends, friends who would back me through thick and thin. There are few people who are so lucky."

I smiled. "I'm happy about it too."

"When you get up, there is the rest of your fruit salad, we made morning glory muffins, and we have some Havarti cheese for you to eat. I'll go call Grant and I'll put a fresh pot of coffee on."

"Thanks, Trace."

She gave me a hug. "No problem."

A couple of minutes later, Grant walked into the room. "It's nice to see you", he said. "I heard you had a long and productive day yesterday."

"I heard you did as well. You bought a house?"

Grant grinned. "It's a beauty. It's apparently just down the street from Kai's and Julie's house, which I am happy about because Kai and Eduardo and I became very good friends when we were in Scotland. Eduardo was hoping to rent a room rather than an apartment, and I arranged for him to rent the top floor of my new house. It has a large bedroom with a large sitting room, a small balcony and its own bathroom and walk-in closet with organizers. Eduardo is thrilled. On the second floor they took three smaller bedrooms and made them into a large master bedroom with an ensuite and a large walk-in closet, and there are still two smaller-but-still-good-sized bedrooms and a family bathroom on the floor. The main floor has a cook's kitchen, a dining room, a living room, a family room, a powder room, and an office tucked behind the kitchen. Out the side is a covered porch that will be a good three-season room. I'm looking forward to relaxing in it with my coffee. It looks over the river and is gorgeous. The basement is finished with a rec room, a home gym, a laundry room and another washroom and a storage room. There is an oversized two-car detached garage at the back of the property, excellent off-street parking, and it's all on a nice corner lot with a few mature trees. It was an estate sale, so I paid an extra ten thousand and got all the furniture as well. A lot of it is banged up but has incredible potential – and I love refinishing furniture. I used to do a lot of it and found it a great way to relax. There are also a few pieces that I want to replace. The master bedroom, for example, looks like a brothel. However, despite the odd choice of magenta in paint color mixed with gold furniture, I am incredibly excited, and so is Eduardo. We went grocery shopping yesterday and bought linens for our bedrooms and bathrooms. We washed them and stayed in our new place last night, and it was awesome. The place was quiet and when I woke up, I could hear the birds singing. Eduardo also said that he had a great sleep. We went for a run together this morning along the riverfront and discovered a large park close by. The neighborhood was just waking up and it was incredibly peaceful. We are so happy with it."

I grinned. "Do you have pictures?"

Grant chuckled. "I feel like a new dad, I have shown pictures of my house so many times."

I laughed.

He pulled out his phone and found the picture of the house, then handed his phone to me. I smiled as I scrolled through the pictures. The place looked welcoming and cozy, yet tasteful and unique at the same time. I could see what Grant said about the furniture, but it did have incredible potential. I smiled. "This place is awesome, Grant", I said. "I can see why you are so happy with it. I particularly like the stone walls. It is a showplace of a house, and it will be incredibly rewarding for you to go back to after a long day."

"Eduardo took me to Pino's last night to celebrate. He said he'd help me paint if I would let him paint his area in the colors he wants."

"That could be dangerous. What colors does he want?"

"Apparently he likes a pale taupe with white trim. I also love those colors, so I am planning on painting my bedroom those colors as well. I was thinking that I would paint the other two bedrooms a cream. The main floor, however, I love as is. It's a nice, warm light color. I can't figure out if it was beige or gray, but it looks stunning with the dark brown leather furniture and the stone walls. I was thinking of getting throw pillows in a cream with a charcoal pattern on it."

"That will look fantastic. I can't wait to see it", I said.

Grant smiled at me as he sat down on the side of the bed. "How are you doing?"

I sighed. "Not as good as you."

"Talk to me."

"My stomach is very upset."

"Nausea?"

"Yes. I don't know why. I had a good day yesterday."

"What happened?"

"I went to work and, when I got to the floor, I had to work up my courage to roll in to see people. But when I did, people had made me a banner and arranged for a party. I was able to get hugs from everybody, eat far too much, meet the new staff, and talk to people. Everybody welcomed me back and most people were surprised when I remembered their names, the number of siblings they had, and the names of their children. After an hour and a half of a party, Dirk and Nick and Miguel and I had a meeting and overviewed where we were in our major projects. Then, at eleven-thirty, I had a meeting with Adele, who is the lawyer representing HR, Ranger, me, and someone who is trying to sue us for discrimination. The person said the only reason that she didn't get hired was because she was in a wheelchair."

"That's a bunch of bull. I guess she doesn't know how many staff we have with physical disabilities."

"That's true – developmental ones as well. We employ many people who are on the Autism Spectrum. Every single one of our employees is a good person that I am happy to have on our team. Their disabilities are irrelevant. They are fabulous in their jobs and are excellent team members, and that is what is important. But then, we are very careful as to who we hire. That psychological profile is invaluable. On the testing, you have to achieve eighty-five percent or above to be considered for employment by Rangeman. Our staff average is ninety-three percent. Darla, the person who is trying to sue us for discrimination, only got sixty-four percent on the psychological test.

"After our meeting with her ended, I brought up my theory – that she isn't disabled at all. She said that she's been in a wheelchair for the last five years, but she looked uncomfortable in it and didn't look like she knew how to work it properly. I really noticed it because of my own experience. I think I look far more comfortable in my wheelchair than Darla looks in hers, despite only being in my wheelchair part time for a month.

"After I pointed it out and we looked at the security footage, we called Joe into the office and talked to him about what was going on and arranged for Cal and his team of investigators to do some surveillance on Darla. Last night we got three videos of her. One was of her out walking the dog, one was of her taking out the garbage, and one was of her doing some grocery shopping. Not one of them had her using a wheelchair."

"My mom had MS, so if you ever want someone to assess her, I have a fairly good understanding of what the symptoms are and how to assess their severity. I hope she isn't faking it. There are people who suffer deeply with MS and having someone fake it at all, let alone to con someone, is appalling. It mocks sufferers who have to work to keep themselves going."

"I agree. Today I have to do the in-depths on both Darla and her brother Zack. Those in-depths will help Joe in his criminal charges against her."

"What is she requesting?"

"A million and she will go away. If we don't give it to her, she will take her experience to the media and blackball us. My portion of the case is what people are waiting on and, as soon as my in-depths are done, Joe will be able to go forward and charge her with fraud."

"I think Miguel and Dirk and Nick should do the work, Steph."

"No, I can do it. I'll be fueled just by being angry."

"Steph", said Grant quietly, "on a scale of zero to ten, how exhausted are you?"

"I can do this, Grant."

"How long will it take to do?"

"About ten hours."

"You don't have ten hours left in the week. What is your exhaustion on a scale of zero to ten? I missed your answer."

I glared at him.

"Steph?"

I sighed. "About a nine."

"I want you to stay in bed today, sleep, rest, eat, drink. Take care of yourself. Kai and I cleared you to work three hours a day, from eight-thirty to eleven-thirty, yet yesterday you worked almost six hours and today you are proposing to work ten. If this is the schedule you keep here in Trenton, we'll have two choices – either send you back to Scotland, where you seemed to be able to only work three hours a day, or extend your sick leave and not have you go back for another month or two. You have to remember, Steph, that you were very sick. You still are very injured and although you are healing fast and healing well, it is still going to take time. You have to give yourself a break."

I swiped some tears from my face.

"Steph", he said quietly, "I need you to be honest with me. What is your pain level?"

I shuddered in a breath. "Ten on my left leg, nine on my right leg, six in my abdomen, and two in my chest."

"That is higher than when we were in Scotland."

I shuddered in another breath. "It has been since being on the plane."

"Okay. We can fix this – but you are not working today. Do you need to send a message to Miguel?"

I looked at him and swiped the tears from my eyes again. "You're going to make me stay home, aren't you?"

"Yes. You need to treat yourself with a little TLC, and that's okay. It will be a little like this for the first little while and, while you could comfortably work overtime before, and you'll be able to comfortably work overtime again in the future, you can't right now. That's part of the healing process, but if you aren't kind to yourself, you will slow down the healing process and delay your recovery. I don't want to see that happen to you and I suspect you don't want to see that happen either."

I picked up my phone and sent a text to Miguel asking for him to portion out the two in-depths and to get them done that day. "Overdid it yesterday and Grant is requesting that I spend the day sleeping. Might not be in tomorrow either when Ranger hears that I overdid it. There are times I hate that he's my boss."

Miguel sent a laughing emoticon. "Don't worry. We'll take care of things in your absence, and we'll be here waiting when you come back. The most important thing is for you to take care of yourself."

I sent a thank you and put my phone down.

Grant looked through the medical bag and took out a syringe and a medication. "I am first going to give you your medication to settle your stomach", he said. "Then I'd like to talk for a few minutes, get you to eat something, and then give you a heavy-duty pain reliever. When you are sleeping from that, I will change your dressings. I'm not happy that your pain levels are as high as they are. Do you know what Kai has been giving you?"

"Usually morphine at night , and acetaminophen with codeine during the day."

"And are they strong enough?"

I sighed. "No. But they make the pain manageable."

"Like they did in Scotland before we started you on the supercharged painkiller?"

"Almost."

He injected the antinauseant and sat back. "While that is working, why don't you tell me how your day went in detail."

I told him about the party and about how I felt about it, and I told him how happy people were that I was back and how loved that made me feel. I told him about meeting the new people and hearing them say, as they left, that they thought that I was a nice person, and how happy that made me feel as well. I also told him about hearing an older staff member tell the newer staff members that everything they told me about their families I would remember. "They said that I had the most amazing memory, and that I could remember details about a person's family that they didn't even remember telling me. They said that I am hugely caring and family-oriented, and they had never met someone who was as interested in her staff before. They told the new staff members that, if the staff member ever had a problem, to never be embarrassed about going to me and admitting it. They said that I would care, and I would support them."

"That's an incredible tribute to you."

I smiled. "It meant a lot to me. Team members are important and people need to feel comfortable talking about problems if I am ever going to have a chance at fixing them."

"Hmm. Where have I heard that before?"

I smiled. "I know, but it is much easier being the person solving the problems rather than being the person presenting them."

Grant smiled. "Yes, but Steph? I still want to solve your problems. Tell me about the fraud case."

I went over it in detail and showed him the video of Darla in the conference room. Grant smiled. "I can see why you said that she's not comfortable in her wheelchair."

"She said that she's been using it for the last five years. I think of Noah, who I always go back to because he is a friend of mine and I know him well, but he uses his wheelchair like it was an extension of his body. He feels totally comfortable in it, he knows how to move it to do the things he wants to do, and he's only been in a wheelchair for three years. If Darla had truly been in a wheelchair for the last five years, she too should have the same level of comfort and proficiency in using it."

"I agree. I know my mother's MS symptoms were quite severe. However, she too could manipulate her wheelchair to do what she wanted. The other thing is that, if Darla's symptoms were so severe that she needed a wheelchair, those symptoms would be noticeable. She said that she has a progressive version of MS. If that was the case, I would anticipate vision and speech difficulties in addition to mobility and gait issues. There also may be a tremor and a lack of coordination. Like you, based on this video I suspect that her MS isn't real."

"I know. Look at the videos that Will and Carrie got last night."

I opened the three videos and Grant reviewed them. By the end of the third video, he was steaming. "That's disgusting", he said. "The fact that someone could take a very valid and debilitating illness and pretend to have it, all to try to scam money from a responsible company? If you ever need a doctor's review, I'd be happy to write up a consult note."

"I'll let Joe know. I'm sure he will appreciate the offer."

"How's your stomach now?"

"A little more stable. While it is still uncomfortable, I think it is pain now that is causing the unsteadiness. I don't, however, feel as nauseous any longer."

"Good. I'll get you something to eat while you send a note to Ranger and tell him that you are staying home today."

"Oh boy."

Grant grinned and patted my shoulder as he stood up. "If you can walk across a flaming floor to save a stranger, you can tell your husband that you are taking the day off."

"It's not as easy as walking across a flaming floor", I said. Grant laughed hard as he left the room.

A few minutes later, he was back with a muffin, some cheese, a glass of milk, and a bowl of fruit salad. "Alix told me to tell you that they were going out for more mangoes this afternoon, and that they would make you another fruit salad for dinner. She said that they would get pineapple for Kai and asked me what I would like. I said peanut butter and jelly, which made her laugh. She seriously told me that peanut butter and jelly don't go in fruit salad, but she would buy me some strawberries and pine nuts instead, because pine nuts were a nut like peanuts, and strawberries were like strawberry jam." He shook his head. "Your kids are the nicest kids that I have ever met. I have never met kids who care so much about others."

I smiled. "I like them as well. They are good kids and I am very proud of them."

"Ranger sent me a text saying that he'd be up in about ten minutes."

"Oh boy", I said. I sighed as I broke off a piece of muffin and popped it into my mouth.

"He's not going to be angry, Steph."

I looked at Grant in surprise. "Of course, he won't be angry. He will, instead, want me to take more days off until my pain level decreases and although that is a good idea, it is a better idea for me to go to work and distract myself."

"As a compromise, can you work from your office here and do video calls like you did in Scotland? That way you won't tire yourself out as much by pushing your wheelchair to your office. It would also be better for reducing the amount of hours a day. I am changing the number of hours a day that you are cleared to work. Instead of three, I don't want to see you working more than two. If you worked from home, you could split those two hours into an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon as well, which might also be better for you."

I sighed again. "All things to think about." I paused. "The bad part about that is that I wouldn't be building up my muscles the same. I have to get my arms stronger. I'm getting too tired pushing myself around. I have to get my legs stronger as well, otherwise I will never be able to walk again."

"Part of that is because your lungs haven't finished healing yet. As for muscle strength, don't you have physiotherapy appointments scheduled daily, starting next week?"

"I do."

"Who are your appointments with?"

"Miles. He's the Head Trainer and Physiotherapist. He knows a lot already and has been looking into burn management for me. He'll do a good job."

"I know that he has a special interest in working with people who are disabled."

"I worked with him extensively when I was pregnant and afterwards, and I attribute the return of my waist to his efforts."

Grant laughed. "Somehow I think you had something to do with it as well."

I smiled. "Maybe a little."

Ranger walked into the room. I looked at him and smiled, and he assessed my face worriedly. "You said that you're staying home today?" he said.

"Grant thinks it would be a good idea. He said I worked six hours yesterday and we could either send me back to Scotland since I was good at only working limited hours there, or I could take the day off and see how I feel tomorrow. I liked Scotland, but I like our apartment better, so I elected to take the day off."

Ranger smiled. "Why was it a concern?" I looked down at the blanket covering me and flushed. "Babe?"

"My pain levels are a little high", I said.

"How high?"

I sighed. "Ten for my left leg, nine for my right."

"Why are they so high?"

"It has been since the plane ride." I looked up at Ranger, and he looked tense and worried.

"Has the pain been increasing since the flight?" said Grant.

"Yes."

"Okay. When you are finished eating, I will give you a supercharged painkiller and, when it is working, I will check your legs for infection again. It would make sense. Flights are often cesspools for germs and people often get sick from them. As much as we tried to wrap you up to keep your legs and feet clean, airborne germs could still get in and infect your burns. Your immunity was probably low as well, with the stress of coming home on top of the stress of dealing with your sister and Steve, mixed with the way you have been decreasing the number of times you have taken antianxiety medication. That, too, would have allowed an infection to flourish. How is your food sitting?"

"It's staying down. With complaints, but it is staying down."

"Okay. Eat as much as you can, but don't put yourself in jeopardy. As happy as you want to make the kids, you will not be happy if you throw up."

I sighed and resolutely put another bite of muffin in my mouth.

Several minutes later, I finished my muffin and fruit. I didn't eat my cheese or drink my milk. I thought it might be a little much when my stomach was already rocking and rolling.

Grant had me lie down again, this time with my head raised to help with the nausea, administered a painkiller shot, and he changed my diaper as it was working. When he was finished and had washed his hands well, he looked at me. "How are you feeling, Steph?"

"Woozy and floaty."

"Close your eyes and go to sleep then." He put on another clean pair of latex gloves and unwrapped my left leg. He inspected my skin and sighed. "You've got an infection", he said. "That's why your pain level is so high."

I sighed.

"I have to clean the area before I put on the antibiotic salve and put on new dressings, Steph. Breathe deeply and go to sleep. I'll give you a few minutes before I touch your leg."

I closed my eyes as Ranger sat on the bed and held my hand. He looked at my leg and said to Grant, "that looks like a bad infection." I could hear the worry in his voice.

"It's going to take her a bit to recover from this one."

"Should she be working?"

"What I had suggested to her was reducing the number of hours a day to two hours, and to work from home rather than from the office. That way, she can split her hours to one in the morning and one in the afternoon. She wasn't happy, but I agree with her that it is a good idea to have work in her life. She is het up about the person trying to sue you for discrimination and having a cause will give her something to think about other than pain. However, at the same time, she is going to need a lot of sleep to get better."

I sighed again and fell asleep. However, a few minutes later, an intense pain in my leg attacked me and I woke up gasping and crying. Ranger was smoothing my hair away from my face, and he looked tortured as he watched the agony on my features.

Grant stopped what he was doing. "Steph, I know this hurts incredibly. However, I have to get this done. Your leg is quite infected and I have to wash it with an antiseptic wash. When that is finished I will let it air dry and give you a minute to catch your breath, before spreading on some antibiotic salve. I will then dress your leg and treat the other one. The second one shouldn't be as bad."

"Okay. Good thing I was wearing my diaper. I think every muscle in my body contracted with the pain."

Grant looked upset. "I'm sorry. Can I do anything to help?" he said.

"Ranger? Can you give me a barf bag?"

Ranger put a bag in my hands, and he continued to soothe me by smoothing the hair away from my face.

I shut my eyes again. "Okay, hit me", I said. I took a deep breath.

"Ready?" said Grant. He started to wash my skin again.

By the time he had washed the skin and spread on antibiotic salve and redressed my left leg, I had thrown up three times. My right leg was also infected, although not as bad, and I only threw up once while Grant was cleaning and dressing it. When it was finished, my voice was strained with trying not to scream. Ranger's hand was sore from me gripping it, and my muscles had seized while trying to be still. Grant stripped off his gloves, washed his hands, and came back. He filled a syringe with an antibiotic, rolled me onto my side and pulled down my diaper, and jabbed my butt. My eyes were swollen from crying. He carefully rolled me onto my stomach, positioned my legs and feet, and sat on the side of the bed. "It's done, Steph", he said softly as I gulped in air. "Next time won't be as bad. I gave you an antibiotic to stop the infection, that I believe will help kick it out of the park quickly. By the next dressings change tonight, you will see a difference and I suspect that tomorrow won't cause nearly the problem as it did today. I know that there is residual pain. May I massage your back to try to help you move past it and relax enough to let the painkiller work? If you aren't asleep in fifteen minutes, I will also give you a sedative to help."

"Kay", I said. I was barely saying one-word sentences, still in the hell of overwhelming pain.

Grant leaned over to the nightstand and removed my hand lotion bottle. "Ranger, would you please continue to smooth back Steph's hair? If you can hold her hand as well, that would be good." He pulled up my nightgown, squirted some lotion on his hands and rubbed them together to warm them, then massaged the lotion into my skin.

Slowly my breathing evened out. "You're good at that", I said.

I could hear Grant smile. "As I have said before, my mother had MS and was in a wheelchair. When I was in high school, I taught myself massage therapy so that I knew what to do to help my mother as best as I could. We found that sometimes massage helped to calm her body down, and to slow down the tremors so they weren't as debilitating. It was a skill that I often used when I was on the strike team, and I used it on you in Scotland. When I had used it on you before, though, it was on your hand and arm and was used to help you calm yourself. I also did a lot of massage of your legs when you were sleeping to keep the blood flowing in them."

"Thank you." I sighed, and minutes later was asleep.