Stephanie's Point of View
Ranger is holding my hand as we head for the elevator and our eventual destination of the fourth floor. Celia is flanking me on my other side and Bobby is a few steps ahead of us. I can't quite put my finger on why, but Ranger has this ability to make me feel safe in a way I haven't with anyone else.
The first thing I noticed when we entered the apartment is that it's fully furnished. The living room area contains a rather large leather couch, what looks to be a comfy recliner and a television hanging on the far wall.
The left is a small kitchen. Just off the kitchen are a bedroom with a full-size bed, a chest of drawers, and a closet with sliding doors. When you come out of that bedroom, there is another bedroom straight ahead directly off the living room. It has a sliding door to get into the room. There is what appears to be a queen-size bed. The same type of closet as the first bedroom and the bathroom is off this room. It has a sink with counter space, a toilet, and a tub on one end with a wall-to-wall shower on the other.
Ranger guides me to the master bedroom. "Babe, I want you to let Bobby give you some medication, then I will help you get ready to sleep, okay?" He has me sit on the side of the bed, facing the closet.
"Okay, Ranger," I'm just too tired to disagree anymore. "Thank you for your help today. I'm sorry. Men scare me, but you seem to be the exception to that rule." The line about her being too tired feels like it should be thought about and not something she would say to him.
He puts his finger under my chin and lifts it so I'm looking into his eyes. "Babe, it's okay, I understand. Let Bobby help you, then I'll be back." When he touched me, I felt a warmth come over me and I felt peace. At that moment I knew he wasn't going to hurt me.
Ranger walks over to talk with Celia. Bobby heads toward me, "Okay, Steph, I want you to take 2 of these pills. They will ease your pain and help you sleep. This pill will help with the blood clots and make them dissolve. Here, drink this. It takes about 30 minutes for them to work. You should be able to take a bath or a shower before they kick in." He hands me a bottle of water and the pills. I down all 3 as he turns and walks away.
I see him and Celia walk out the door. Ranger shuts the door and walks back over to me. He walked over to the chest on the other side of the bed and pulled out some soft PJs and Rangeman panties. Didn't even know they made them.
He placed the sleepwear at the foot of the bed. Ranger headed to the bathroom. It only took a few seconds for the aroma of what I thought might be jasmine to waft out of the bathroom.
He came back to me, "Babe, I have water running for you're a bath. I set out towels and a sponge for you to use. I put some Jasmine bath oil in the water to help you relax. Take a bath. I'm going to talk to Celia and Bobby outside. I will check back with you in 20 minutes. Make sure you wash your hair too, babe. If you need help, Celia will help you." He held out a hand. "Come with me."
He guided me to the bathroom, bringing the clothes along with him. "Do you need help, babe?"
"No, thank you for your kindness. I can do it from here."
"Remember, it takes about 30 minutes for the pills to take effect, so I'm going to give you 20 to take a bath. Be careful and don't hurt yourself"
Bobby's Point of View.
"Someone tell me now what the hell happened to her," Ranger asks as he folds his arms over his chest.
"Carlos, you know I can't do that because it's client confidentiality. If you want to know, ask Stephanie about it. She obviously had something tragic happen to her." Celia advised Ranger of the obvious.
"Bobby?" Ranger questions me as well.
"I don't know what happened to her, either. I just know that someone beat the crap out of her, and she is in severe pain. Besides, even if I knew I couldn't tell you, remember patient-doctor privilege." He didn't seem to like that answer either.
"Gentlemen, I need to go; I have to get back to the office." She placed a hand on Carlos's arm, be patient with her. When she wants you to know what happened, she will tell you. If you need anything else, let me know. If Stephanie needs someone to talk to, call me. I will come." Celia kisses Ranger on the cheek and hugs me, then she walks off.
"I'm going to check on Stephanie," Ranger said as he turned to open the door to the apartment.
Ranger's Point of View
"Babe?"
"I'm drying off now, Ranger. I'll be out in a minute."
Stephanie walks out a few minutes later wearing the clothes that I gave. I guide her over to the bed and put her under the blanket.
"Sleep, Babe. Jackson will be fine. I will come back and check on you later." I bent down and kissed her on the forehead. I turned out the light and walked out. Maybe now she will sleep.
I headed back to my office happy that Babe is sleeping but confused about why I had these feelings of protection come over me. when did I become the protective nature? There is nothing but admiration for her, as to what she has been through. When I touch her, I feel electricity that shots through me like a bolt of lightning.
"Is my mommy okay, Ranger?" Jackson asked as he walked over to stand next to me. He truly loves his mother and based on what I can see Babe's ex didn't really care for him all that much. He is very protective of her as well.
"She is fine. Bobby gave her some medicine for her bruises, and she is now resting. She needs to sleep." He is so cute and smart. I hope to one day have a son. I could see myself having a son with black silky hair and gorgeous blue eyes, just like his mother. I have to quit thinking like this. Why would I think about having a child with Stephanie?
"I'm glad that mommy is sleeping. She has been tired, and she is worried about someone taking me." He seems so grown for his age.
He is so precious. I wonder how a father could put his son out on the street
"Jackson, do you miss your dad?" I had to know. I just couldn't fathom not having anything to do with your own child.
He angled his hand on his hip, his facial expression way too serious for his age. "Not really, no. My dad never played with me. He didn't love me, and he told my mommy I was a mistake and that he didn't want me as his son. Only my mommy loves me. That's why she wants to protect me." Jackson should not feel like his mother is the only one that loves him. He is worthy of being loved. He needs to know this also,
"Here, come and sit on my lap." He raises his arms up for me to lift him. I sit him on my lap as he plays with Batman. For a moment I stare at the beat-up toy, and it occurs to me I haven't seen him with any other toys. "Is this the only toy you have?" I added this line so that the question makes more sense where you have it.
He turned his head to look up at me. "Yes, sir. This is all he would let me have."
I just shook my head. Unbelievable. I call Santos to get him to come into my office. When he walks in, I grab my wallet and fish out a couple hundred to give to him. "Here, take this and go to the store and get Jackson some more toys. All he has is this one figure." I figured Santos was the perfect person for this task since he's nothing more than a big kid himself.
Les squatted down to talk to him at his level. "Jackson, what toys do you like?"
"Any superheroes. Army men. Cars, trucks. Just any boy stuff." He got down off my lap and hugged Les. "Thank you for going to the store and getting me some toys." He then turned around and raised his arms for me to pick him up again, then when I did, he hugged me. "Thank you, Ranger, for getting me toys." I hugged him back, trying to swallow down the lump in my throat.
"You're welcome, little man. We will hang out here until Lester comes back and then you can play with all your toys. Better yet, let's check on your mommy." I carried him out the door and we headed to the elevator.
When we got off the elevator, we walked to apartment 4C where she was sleeping. I opened the door, and I put him down, put my finger to my lips to let him know to be quiet and we tiptoed to the bedroom to check on Babe.
She took my breath away; she was on her side with her hair spread out around her. Her right arm was tucked under her head and her left arm laying on her side. The blanket was off her legs. I eased over and pulled the blanket back up over her. Jackson was cautious as he edged over and gently kissed Stephanie on her cheek. He tapped my arm. I looked down at him. "Ranger, you need to give mommy a kiss to help her sleep."
I chuckled and leaned over to kiss Stephanie on her forehead. Jackson put his finger to his lips to tell me to hush and pulled me out of the bedroom. "We have to be quiet so mommy can sleep." I nodded, and we quietly walked out the door and shut it.
"Mommy looked pretty sleeping, didn't she, Ranger?" He looked up as we were walking, waiting for an answer.
"Yes, she did, little man. Now let's see if Lester is back." We walked back, swinging our joined hands back and forth. He is such a sweet little boy. Lester wasn't back yet, so we went into my office and waited. After about an hour, we saw Lester step off the elevator.
Lester had just gotten in because his arms were loaded with packages when we walked up to him. I grab a few before they all fall. The sentence I highlighted is clunky. Maybe consider rewording.
"WOW! Are all those for me?" Jackson jumps up and down, laughing.
"Yes, little man, they are. Now come on, I want to play with some too." Les laughs with him and they head to the conference room so they can spread the toys out.
All 3 of us walked into the conference room and Les took out all the toys and spread them out on the table.
"Les, how did you get so many toys with only $200? There must be at least 50 toys here." I'm actually floored by the number of toys he bought.
"You're close. There are 48 toys, and it is B1G2 free at Toys R Us. So, you know, I went nuts. Little man and I are going to have fun." Jackson and he opened toys and put the trash in the bags.
Just goes to show you that Lester really is a big kid. I've been trying to tell everyone that for years, but no one listens to me. I shook my head and laughed. "Well, you two have fun. I have work to do." I went back to my office to continue with my paperwork confident that Jackson was in good hands.
Stephanie's Point of View
I woke disorientated, not remembering where I was. As I sprung up and looked around, then I realized where I was at. My attention shifted to the window behind my bed. Still daylight. I apparently didn't sleep very long.
Where was Jackson? Ranger is the one I trust to keep him safe. He is supposed to make sure that I will not lose him.
I'm still sore, but not as sore as I was. Not sure how I feel so rested when I didn't sleep very long, or so I thought.
The Ranger gave me PJs to sleep in. I didn't really have anything else to wear, so I figured I would just stay in them. I looked around for a robe finally finding one hanging on the back of the bathroom door. I put it on and strolled out of the apartment and took the elevator to the 5th floor to see if I could find Jackson.
When I got off at 5, there were voices coming from Tank's office. They were very loud, almost screaming. I headed to the break room, got a cup of coffee, and stood there listening to the voices. They were talking about cameras and not being able to figure out where they go and something about 2 days. It was giving me a headache.
Finally, I had enough. I walked over to Tank's office and knock on the door. Ranger says "Enter" I open the door and step inside not getting too close to either of them.
"Guys because of the loud voices. It's causing my headache to get worse."
Tank turns and gazes at me. He scrubs his hand down his face, "Little Girl, we have been going at these drawings for weeks and can't figure out the camera placement so the whole room will be viewed with as few cameras as possible."
I timidly stepped over to the plans that they were having issues with. I study them for a minute to see if I could figure out a better placement. I crossed out 6 cameras and added 2 in the middle spaced out. They were 360-degree cameras, so they would pan the entire area and reduce the number of cameras needed.
I set the pen on top of the plans and turns to walk out instead. "Problem solved, now not so loud, please." Then I stepped out. Okay, so maybe I shouldn't have done that, but this was getting ridiculous. Then I realized that I had gotten close to both guys, and I wasn't sure how I felt about that.
I didn't see Jackson anywhere, so I went to the conference room and used the phone to call Ella. I remembered that her extension was 6 on the phone. She answered on the 2nd ring.
"Hello, this is Ella. How can I help you?" She is so cheerful and such a lovely woman.
"Hello, Ms. Ella, this is Stephanie. Is Jackson there, by any chance?" The more I didn't see him the more I was worried that he had been taken from me.
"No, dear. Les and Bobby took Jackson to the zoo. They should be back any time now. Don't worry. He is perfectly safe. With it being Sunday, Jackson got bored."
"Wait! Sunday? But I went to sleep Friday night." I couldn't believe it. Did I really sleep that long?
"Yes, dear. You went to sleep Friday night, but you slept all day Saturday and it's 10:39 am Sunday morning. Would you like some breakfast?"
I slept like 30-something hours. WOW! I've never done that before. I guess I truly was tired. My stomach took that moment to growl to let me know that yes, I was hungry.
"Yes, ma'am, I would love something. I'm in the conference room on 5."
"Okay, Dear, I will bring you something shortly." She said she would be down in around 5 minutes.
She showed up a few minutes later with a couple of breakfast burritos, containing eggs, sausage, bacon, cheese, and potatoes It was so good. I ate 2 of them. They were some of the best burritos I've ever had.
I looked up from my cup and saw Tank and Ranger headed in my direction. Uh Oh. This did not look good. They didn't look like they were mad, but I realized what I did just now in Tank's office, and I figured I may have ticked them both off. They were probably debating on kicking me out and calling the police so Jackson could be taken away. I hope that wasn't the case.
They both walk into the room and take a seat in front of me. I know what you are thinking. Aren't you scared of men? I still am, yes, but I realize that I'm not really scared of these two. I would think I would be of Tank because that man is HUGE, but I'm not.
"Before you say anything, I want to apologize for coming into your office, Tank, and telling you two to not be loud. I had no right to do that and I'm sorry." Yeah, I was hoping to grovel and see if that would help.
"Baby Girl, we wanted to say thank you. We were stunned when you walked in and just basically told us to shut the fuck up. Then you walked over to the blueprints that we had been looking at for over 2 weeks and fixed our issue in less than a minute." He smiled big like he was happy.
"Babe, like Tank said. Thanks. Proud of you Babe." Ranger stated as he took his phone out and sent a text to someone.
We had been in the conference room talking for about an hour when Jackson came running through the open doorway.
"Mommy, Mommy. You're up. Uncle Les and Uncle Bobby took me to the zoo. Guess what I saw there?" he ran up to me and I picked him up. It caused me to wince because of the pain in my ribs, but no way was I not going to hold my son. He told me about all the animals he saw and how he got to feed some of them. He had never been to the zoo before, so he had a blast. Les bought him a stuffed animal from the zoo's gift shop.
"Look Mommy, this is Dumbo. He is my elephant. I also got you something too mommy." He pulled a rainbow-colored pen out of his pocket, and it had all different animals on it. It was one of those rainbow pens that have red, green, blue, and black ink. I loved it. Honestly, I did.
"Oh Sweetie, thanks. Mommy loves it." I gave him a big kiss on the cheek, and he got down to show Tank and Ranger his elephant.
Les and Bobby were watching me, and I wondered if they were waiting to see if I was going to freak out about them being so close to me.
I looked at Ranger, "Can you call Ella to see if she can watch Jackson while I talk to the 4 of you?"
"Sure, Babe." He pulled out his phone and dialed Ella's number.
I motioned for Les and Bobby to sit down. I wanted to make sure that what I had to say was only told. We waited for Ella to come and get Jackson. She said they were going to make cookies. He liked that idea.
He made sure he gave everyone in the room a hug and gave me a kiss. "I love you, mommy. See you later." I laughed because he sounded so grown. "I love you too, sweetie. Be good."
They walked out the door holding hands and Jackson rattling on about what he saw at the zoo and what he did. He is my heart, and I am so glad to be his mommy.
The guys sat across from me at the table. I knew I had to give them my story. I just wasn't sure I could get through it without breaking down. Sensing my hesitation, Les put a box of Kleenex in front of me and Ranger took a hold of my hand and held it while he rubbed his thumb on the back of my to calm me. It seemed to work too because I calmed down. It was almost like I was in a trance.
I didn't really look at anyone. I looked behind Ranger as I began my story. My story consisted of me telling them how I would go to the gun range and how I would take self-defense classes. I told them about Jackson being at a neighbor's house that day when everything happened.
When I got to the part about how Dickie and his partners sexually hurt me, I was crying at this point and my shoulders were shaking, but they let me cry. I didn't need comfort. I needed to finish my story. A half a box of Kleenexes later, I finally finished. I told them about my mother and Mary Lou.
When I finished, I sat back, closed my eyes, and waited. I don't know what I was waiting for I guess I was waiting for a reaction. This whole time while I was talking, I never actually looked at any of their eyes. I would gaze off in the distance or stare at something on the wall or table and just focus on that one item as I talked.
I chanced a glance at Tank. He appeared seriously pissed. I skipped Ranger and shift my focus to Les. He looked like he was ready to kill someone. Then I looked at Bobby. He looked like he was plotting out how to commit a murder and get away with it. Finally, I looked at Ranger. WOAH! Wasn't expecting that look. If looks could kill, I would be dead. He was super pissed
I bowed my head, closed my eyes, and just sat there in silence, hoping that I didn't make a mistake telling them. What happened next, I was not expecting.
Ranger let go of my hand, stood, and walked around to where I was. He grabbed both my hands this time and pulled me up to face him, then he wrapped his arms around me and hugged me.
At first, I didn't know what to do. Then I relaxed and I just let him hug me and I cried more. I didn't even know I had any more tears in me. When I finally calmed, I raised my head and looked up at him, "I'm sorry I didn't mean to get your shirt wet."
He laughed. I mean a deep laugh and then Tank laughed, then Lester and Bobby started laughing. All of them were laughing and I couldn't help it. I started laughing. I was laughing so hard I had tears rolling down my face. Tank, Bobby, and Lester doubled over laughing. The only one that wasn't doubled over was Ranger, and he was still holding me. I guess it was a way to break the tension in the room.
"Babe, I'm not worried about this shirt. Thank you for telling us. I know it was hard for you. You are extremely brave, and you were NOT a bad wife. What happened to you was something that should have never happened.
"Yeah, Little Girl, thank you for telling us. You don't have to be afraid of us. The only person in this room that could cause you an issue is this goofball right here." he said and pointed to Lester.
"Hey, I resent that remark. I'll have you know that women adore me. I have them flock all over me every day. You two are just jealous." He leans back in his chair and smiles.
Now, it was my turn to banter back and forth with them. I removed myself from Ranger's arms and I crossed my arms over my chest. "Les, what do these two have to be jealous over?"
Tank and Ranger with shocked looks on their face, said: "We love you!" Les looked hurt and started pouting. The 'we love you might be a bit much for the situation. Maybe a 'you go girl' or 'you're our new favorite person or something like that.
I knew they were trying to make light of the situation but getting back to business again, "Ranger, if you could get me, someone I could talk to, I would appreciate it. A therapist maybe." I figured it was time that I try to my life and my mental health better.
"Babe, of course. I can get you the best therapist there is."
"Then set it up please, thank you."
Ranger's Point of View…
I want to see about trying to help her in any way that I can, but I want to first make sure that she doesn't have anything in her past that would cause a conflict. I sent a text to Rodriguez to run a thorough background check on Babe, to see if anything came up.
With the new system that Hector had in place, it took about 15 minutes to run a complete background check on someone. While Babe was talking with the rest of the guys, I was waiting on the text back to see if anything was found.
I don't know that she is ready to work, but I want that to be an option if she wants to. I'm willing to help her transition to having a job or allow her to continue to stay in the apartment on the 4th floor.
We will see what happens in the coming weeks. Right now, I just want her to get better and know that no one here will ever hurt her. Jackson and she are safe if they are here.
I know I don't know her well, but there is part of me that would love for her and Jackson to move into 7 with me. I feel like she could make my place into a home. .
