Ranger guided Heather down the hall and left her in a bedroom that was unoccupied. He shut the door, knowing that she would have trouble getting out with her hands restrained behind her back. When he got back, he looked at me. "You adopted her, didn't you?"

"She just wants some place to belong, Ranger. She had a shitty upbringing with a mother who often forgot about her. She was told that her father didn't want anything to do with her, and that he rejected her even before she was born. I'm not sure, but I suspect that her mother liked to tell her the story to make herself feel good – the man didn't want the mother because she was pregnant with Heather and therefore it was all Heather's fault. However, what likely happened was Heather's father was a john and had no idea that he had conceived a baby. Her desperation to find her father isn't so much for money but to identify a place where she belonged, to find a person she mattered to."

"How did you get her so calm?"

"I made sure she knew that she mattered to me. She's a good person, Ranger. She has just lost her way."

Ranger thought about that for a moment, then sighed. "What do you suggest, babe?"

"Honestly? I think she needs to matter to someone. That's the real issue. She has been too busy and is too angry to make friends, her boyfriend left her when she became pregnant, and then she lost the baby. She struggled with her mother for years, and she felt the only person she would matter to was her father. So she desperately tried to find her father. I can understand why she did what she did. However, I don't think she should get off scot-free.

"What I think we should do is to let her go on a few conditions. One, she starts counselling asap. She desperately needs the professional help. She can do that through the company, can't she?"

Ranger's lips twitched as he tried not to smile. "Yes."

"Good. Second, she should look into volunteer opportunities and find something that she would find rewarding. Third, she should start a daily exercise program. Again, the company could find a sports therapist who could ease her into an exercise program, couldn't they?"

Ranger tried not to smile again. "Yes."

"Fourth, I think she should continue on her Master's program. That would be something that she should have pride about. It's a big thing, an important thing, a difficult thing. And fifth, I want daily emails telling me how her day has gone, even if it is just one line. I will respond, perhaps with just one line if I am busy, but I will want to make sure that she is okay and hoping that she is having a good day. I want to make sure she knows that she matters to someone."

Julie coughed and said, "social worker". I laughed.

"Do you want to offer her a research job?" said Ranger.

"Not right now. First of all, I don't know if there is a job there to offer. Second of all, I don't know the condition of the research department. However, we could tell her that, after doing her Master's, there may be a position available and if she was interested she just needs to watch the internal postings."

"That's fair. Do you want to invite her for lunch?"

"As much as I think that is a good idea, I think that Lindsay will have a hard time with it and it wouldn't be fair to her. It would be hard for Heather as well to be faced with Lindsay's anger. I would actually recommend to let her go and tell her to use the time to figure out what she is going to do, to create a game plan, a list in order of the tasks that she needs to accomplish, and then to send it to me. I think that would be a much better use of time.

"And of course, we can give her the option of not doing all that and going to jail instead. However, by doing the steps that we are suggesting, she might avoid jail time through being able to show the judge that she is getting her shit together and trying to make amends."

Ranger thought about it for a moment, then turned to Kai and Julie. "What do you think?"

Kai smiled. "I think I see why Julie said that Steph would make an excellent social worker."

I grinned.

"When she realized that she had caused Steph pain last night by hitting her in her abdomen, she was honestly upset. She hadn't meant to cause a problem. I agree with Steph in that her anger is causing her to self-destruct, and the route to eliminating that anger that Steph outlined is a good one. I think that Steph is also right in that Heather needs to matter to someone, and that is important, and if Steph is willing to put the time into checking in with Heather and making sure that Heather knows that she is important, I think it could be the making of Heather."

"What do you think, Jules?" said Ranger.

"Instinctively? I like her. I can see what Steph means by her anger is causing her to self-destruct, but I can also see that feeling like you belong would do more to eradicate the anger than anything else. Feeling like you matter is important to everyone. Feeling like someone cares about you when you are sick, that they care whether you have had a good day, or that they care whether you are happy. Someone to celebrate when things go well and commiserate when they don't. That's important, and I think Steph is right and that is what she needs. That will go a long way to helping her past this hump in life."

Ranger thought about it for a moment, then sighed. "I guess, babe, you are mentoring another person."

I smiled.

"Let's get Heather and outline the options in front of her."

Kai left and a few minutes later, he returned with a tear-stained Heather. "What's wrong?" I said softly. "You're crying."

"I was thinking about lost time, and how I hurt Colin in the last days of his life. I wish that I could do it over. I would do things much differently."

"I understand."

"We have a couple of options to discuss with you", said Ranger. "The first option is for you to be picked up by the police and taken to jail again. However, we don't think that you need to have another charge against you. Because of this, we are offering a second option. We will let you go, but you have to do a few things to earn that option. First, you have to start therapy as soon as you can. There are counsellors through work, and that should help you avoid the long wait times for other counsellors. That is important. The second thing is for you to look into volunteer work, pick something, and do it. We think this will give you a good sense of reward as well as help you develop friendships. You have a lot to give to someone, and you can make people's lives better. We think you'll get a lot back from that. Third, you need to start exercising again. It will help with the anger and, now that your ankle has healed, you can work with a sports therapist to develop a program that will ease you back into a full exercise routine. Again, that is offered through the company. Fourth, you need to continue working on your Master's. That is a huge accomplishment that most people can't do, and I think you will be thrilled when you have completed it. Also, if you are interested, once you finish your Master's you might want to check the internal job postings to see if there is a job available in research. If we had a position open for you, you would be an excellent researcher and librarians with post-grad degrees often have the kind of skills and training that we are looking for. Five, you need to develop a game plan, a list of things to do in order to turn your life around. And six, Steph has said that she will give you her email address and she wants you to check in every day. At times, that email can be long. At other times, it might only be a sentence or two. In return, the same thing may happen. If Steph is busy, she might only send a sentence or, even, if she is researching an assignment with a time crunch that would be all that her email said. However, at other times she will write more."

"I want to keep in touch with you and cheer you on", I said softly. Heather was looking a little stunned. "You are going to do good things in your life, and I want to see you do it. I want to celebrate when things go well and commiserate when they don't. Because Heather? You matter."

Heather started crying hard. "But I kicked you and caused you pain."

"You didn't mean to", I said.

"But I held a gun to you."

"You felt desperate."

"You really want me to email you every day?"

I smiled. "Absolutely. I think we could become friends."

"You want to become friends with me?" She looked at me, and the hope in her face was heartbreaking.

I smiled softly. "I think we're already on our way."

Heather smiled tentatively. "I'd like to take the option where I email you every day."

"Then, Ranger, how about you take the cuffs off and Heather and I can talk about the things that could be included on her game plan. Once Heather has an idea of what I am looking for, perhaps she can go back to her place and work on her game plan and set up appointments with the psychologist and with the sports therapist."

Heather grinned.