I woke up at bedtime again, and Kai and Grant were talking quietly to each other. They hadn't noticed that I was awake, and I looked at them for a moment to try to assess their mood.

Grant looked up and caught me watching them. He smiled. "How are you feeling?" he said.

"I think I'm still too dopey to answer that question. How am I doing?"

Grant smiled again. "Your high fever hasn't come back, so we are now only dosing you every four hours with a fever-reducing medication, rather than every two. After four hours it is just starting to climb, but it hasn't climbed over one hundred and one degrees. I am exceedingly happy with that, as that is a good sign that the infection is on the way out."

"How did my legs look when you changed my dressings?"

"This morning it still looked quite infected. In fact, there was little change from last night. However, I gave you another antibiotic shot and, this is what I was just talking to Kai about, when your fever wasn't coming up so intensely this afternoon, I peeked to see what your legs were doing. Yes, they were still infected but, at the same time, they looked like they had started healing. I am looking forward to seeing how much better they look at the dressings change tonight."

I gave a deep sigh of relief. "Have you told Ranger?"

"He was here when I peeked this afternoon. I have never seen someone look as relieved in my whole life."

I smiled. If Ranger was looking relieved, there was a big change in the look of my legs. It meant that diagnostically I was only starting being healed, but visually it was much better.

"So how are you feeling now?" said Grant with a smile.

I grinned and sighed with relief. "Honestly? My stomach is threatening to come up and I feel very tired."

"I dosed you with antinauseants an hour ago, so they should be working at their peak."

"My God. This is their peak?"

Grant smiled. "Unfortunately. However, it will also be why you are a bit more tired than usual. What are your exhaustion levels?"

"About an eight."

"Okay. Pain levels?"

"About an eight. I'm a nine on my left leg and a seven on my right. I know that I should be taking another pain reliever, but I'd like to talk for a few minutes first. I'm interested in hearing how the case is going."

"And I suspect that Ranger would be interested in telling you. Why don't you look at your phone, and I'll get you some ice chips, a meal replacement drink, and a small slice of cake." I turned to look at the nightstand. My cake from breakfast had been removed. "Ranger said that no one should have to eat stale cake."

I snorted. "He doesn't realize how many times I have eaten stale cake. I regularly bought the day-old cakes from the Tasty Pastry over the years. After all, stale cake is better than no cake and it makes a good breakfast…or lunch…or dinner."

Grant and Kai laughed as Grant left to retrieve dinner for me.

I looked at Kai. "Are the kids still up?"

"No", he said. "They went to bed about an hour ago."

"How are they doing?"

"They were pretty scared last night, but when Ranger seemed so happy today they settled down quite a bit. Tracy has been fabulous with them. They also came in and gave you healing kisses and hugs periodically throughout the day, so when you are feeling better you might want to mention it." I smiled. They would like the thought that they had helped heal me. All three of the kids were doers rather than people who lamented their fate, wailing and wringing their hands. They took after both Ranger and me that way. I never liked the idea that I was a wailer. Now my sister, Val? She was a wailer and, unfortunately, she expected me to do something about it.

Grant returned with the food and the ice chips and Ranger, and Ranger smiled when he saw me. He looked much more settled than he had the night before. He brought through a small slice of homemade banana cream pie and another small slice of pineapple upside down cake. "I made sure I got the maraschino cherry", he said. "You know, for health benefits."

I grinned. "You made banana cream pie?"

Ranger smiled. "Your mom made banana cream pie. She said it was one of your favorites and, with the banana in the pie, it was healthy. I can see where you get your reasoning from. It's a family trait."

I giggled. "Absolutely." I then sighed. "So my parents know?"

"Yes. I thought it was only right to tell them. Your mom made the pie this morning and came over this afternoon, luckily after Grant had discovered your healing. They came together but left your grandmother at home with Annie, and they cuddled the kids for a bit while they were here. The kids were happy to see them, which was nice, and Grace explained to them that they were missing their grandparents, which made your mom start to cry. Your dad looked a little close to tears himself as well. As your mom said to me, she was fairly close to Val's kids, but there was always a divide since the kids didn't want anything to do with your dad and your mom didn't know how to stop that from happening. However, our kids adore them both and when your parents came into the apartment, the kids saw them and immediately ran for books that your dad could read to them. It was fabulous to see the extended family get together like that. Since school doesn't start for another couple of days, Eli was here as well and gave them an enormous hug. He had never met your dad before but he accepted him as part of the family just because the little ones did. Your dad looked touched and you could really see how much he loves kids. Your mom explained that he was Joe's and Tracy's child, and your father grinned and explained that he didn't know Tracy but he thought Joe was a fine person."

"So what happened?"

"Eli grinned with pride and introduced Tracy."

"He is such a great kid."

"Yes, he is. And Tracy looked thrilled that your parents immediately accepted Eli, even though there is a difference in skin color. Apparently, someone attacked Tracy at the deli two days ago and Tracy is still angry."

"Oh boy. Tracy is remarkably easy-going, but she always reminds me of the phrase to never get between a mother bear and her cub."

Ranger smiled. "That's the way it should be. It's so ridiculous as well. There are so many mixed families and adopted families and all that really matters is that the parents are loving and provide kind and compassionate and consistent care for their children, and that the children are treated with love. It doesn't matter if the person is green, purple or orange, people are people and love is what defines a family."

"Which is why Joe disowned his family and why I disowned Val. In both cases, they were not treating us in a loving way. If they don't want to act like family, they don't get to be part of our family."

Ranger smiled. "And that is why we've made our own. Everybody in our adopted family treats us as family, cares for us as family, and worries about us as family."

I smiled. "And we care about them the same way. I heard the kids gave me healing kisses and hugs before bed."

"Yes, and throughout the day. They were quite pleased to be able to do something to help, and they were especially pleased when I told them you were getting better and I thought it was their healing kisses and hugs that had done it."

"They would love that."

Ranger grinned. "You should have seen Grace. She gave you extra hugs because you were extra hurt."

"I look forward to seeing them soon. What's happening with the case?"

"Miguel and Dirk and Nick have been busy. By the way, now that Miguel is the Vice-President of Research and Investigative Services for North America, I think you should promote someone up to the position of Executive Director for Individual Research. Any suggestions?"

I smiled. "Noah, definitely. I've been wanting to promote him for a while, but I didn't have anywhere to promote him into."

"We can certainly ask him. I, too, think that he would be a great choice. He's a good man."

"Yes, he is."

"Okay. Let's invite Miguel and Dirk and Nick tomorrow and maybe talk about that. I'll talk to Miguel tonight to give him a heads-up and to see if he agrees."

"Sounds good. Tell me about the case."

"I was seeing how long I could milk it before you burst with curiosity."

I growled at him. "You're getting real close, and it isn't curiosity. It's irritation."

"Oh boy. Okay, Miguel and Dirk and Nick worked together to do the in-depths on the other companies that Darla scammed. In one case, the company was being bought out by another company and didn't want the negative press. In another case, the company was in the process of signing a big contract. The negative press would have sunk their deal. And with the last company, the building wasn't accessible for those with challenges. That was a sad one, as the company wasn't doing well and after they paid the scam money, they didn't have enough money to make the building accessible to all people and ended up getting charged and fined by the government, which resulted in them going under. So they did those reviews this morning. This afternoon, I called each of the companies, explained who we were, and told them what we think happened. The person who lost his company started crying. Darla had taken a hundred and fifty thousand from each of them, and he's almost at the point where he's going to have to sell his house to cover his losses so that he doesn't have to go bankrupt."

"Let me guess. You told him to apply."

"I actually had a great conversation with him. Yes, he'll have to jump through the hoops. However, I suspect that he would be a good person to be a supervisor for a team of security guards. He seemed to have a high level of leadership skills and a non-existent level of budgeting and planning skills. I heard what he earned when he owned his own company as well, and we'll be able to top it easily. I will look forward to seeing his application."

I tried not to smile. Ranger had an insane need to take care of people. He was incredibly kind, and his mandate of never leaving anyone behind was inherent to him.

"Are you planning on fast-tracking his application?" I said.

"Absolutely", he said. "He's in financial trouble now, and he can't wait another two months to get a job."

"How about the other two?"

"They are both small but successful security companies. Having said that, they were both furious when they heard that they were the victims of a scam, and they were willing to do whatever it took to see them go down. They said that Darla and Zack were brutal and had done everything from phoning family members to report on their discriminatory behavior, to talking to the media. They said that they would love to see some strife come to her. With one person, he said that his mother's last days were spent dealing with Darla's regular phone calls where she yelled and screamed and told lies to his mother. His mother ended up disowning him and she died without him saying goodbye.

"Tomorrow, when you wake up, if you feel up to it, we were thinking that we'd have the Gurus up to our apartment, go over the hiring of Noah and, if you all agree with it, get Miguel to retrieve him and have him up for his first Guru meeting. In his first Guru meeting, we'll have Tank and Hal, and we'll go over the case with all of us here."

"That sounds good. Did Joe find out anything?"

"He looked into the different cases. None of them were reported to the police as being a criminal matter, but they were registered with the courts for a civil suit. In each case, Zack represented himself as a lawyer, so he, too, is committing fraud. All the cases were solved out of court."

"Okay. A four hundred and fifty thousand-dollar haul over the last six months shows that this has been incredibly lucrative for them."

"I know. After hearing about the experiences of the other companies, I am even happier with the idea that we'll be taking them down. The million wouldn't kill us, but I would hate to see our reputation shredded. We have worked hard to ensure that our reputation is clean, and that we are a responsible employer. However, I am not a pushover. If they want a fight, I'll give one to them."

"You've faced down terrorists and dictators and assholes with a lot more teeth than Darla has. I'm glad you aren't going to succumb to her."

Ranger smiled. "Exactly. I've even faced down Val."

I laughed and finished the banana cream pie and the cake. Grant encouraged me to finish the meal replacement drink and, when I did, he said, "this is what I was thinking we would do. When you are ready, I will change your diaper and wash my hands. I will then take the bandages off, give you an update as to your healing, give you a painkiller and, when it has worked and you are asleep, we will do what we have to do. However, knowing your level of curiosity, I think you'd be interested in hearing how much better you are."

I grinned. With working so closely with Grant and Kai and Eduardo, they knew me quite well – and they knew that hearing my level of recovery would be a good thing for me. It would either tell me that I had to gear down and fight harder, or it would tell me that I was on the right track and doing the right things. And they knew that keeping me involved and informed of what was going on would stop my imagination coming up with horrible options of what could be happening.

Minutes later, Ranger was holding my hand as they took the bandages off. Grant smiled. "Amazing", he said. "The infection is resolving. I can honestly say you have improved around 30% since your last change this morning. Keep doing what you are doing, Steph. It is working and working well for you."

"All I've been doing is sleeping."

Grant grinned. "And that is obviously working for you. Keep it up."

I laughed.

Kai gave me the next dose of painkillers and, as it was starting to work, Ranger looked at me. "I'm so happy you're getting better", he said.

I smiled and closed my eyes against the dizziness. "Me too", I said.

Ranger leaned over and kissed me lightly on my lips. "I love you", he said.

I smiled, and that was the last thing that I remembered until the morning.