Misunderstandings and Heartbreak

A/N: Thank you for the love and patience. Thank you for not giving up on me. Life has been a roller coaster for sure. Both my kids and I have had major surgeries. Then last Christmas I lost my dad. Grief is such a funny thing. It took me eight months to even be comforatble to step inside his house for any extended period of time. But now I love the treasures I find as we get the house ready to sale. I'm so thankful for everyone sticking by me though this time and trusting me that I would come back and finish my stories.

Special thanks go to my bestie Jenrar, my dear friend Danielle. Jenio1 you are missed very much. Thanks for all you help talking out this story many moons ago.

If you haven't heard we are doing a fanfic fundraiser for Jenrar. For more info go to Facebook and search for the group Fanfic Fundraiser for Jenrar

Please listen to "It Will Rain"by Bruno Mars.

Previously…

"Babe, the guys are coming. We're going to be fine."

She tried to speak, but the movement caused more blood to drip from the wound on her neck.

"Steph, don't talk. Trust me, mi amor! Everything will be fine."

I prayed that I was right…

Chapter 8 – It Will Rain

The minutes seemed to drag on for hours while I waited for the first sound of footsteps. I could finally hear the guys running down the corridor. Bobby and Lester burst into the room and went to work on Steph.

Bobby immediately began applying pressure to the wound on her neck. "Bomber, I promise it looks worse than it is, but I'm going to have to hold this tight for a few minutes to get the bleeding under control. It's going to be uncomfortable, but if it starts to feel like it's hard to breathe, I want you to blink rapidly. Don't try to talk until I tell you to, okay? Blink once for yes and twice for no."

She blinked once.

Lester started looking over the vest attached to her. "Ram, countdown is at thirteen thirty. Get to hustling because he's got this thing booby trapped." Then he looked over at me and shook his head. He wasn't sure we could save her before the countdown reached detonation.

At that moment, I knew one thing for certain… If the unimaginable were to happen, we would die here in this dank old abandoned warehouse together.

Ram walked into the room with Hector and Vince carrying supplies. Hector and Lester started taking images of the vest with a battery-powered portable X-ray generator. I could see the panic in Steph's eyes as he moved the equipment around the outside of the vest attached to her chest.

"Babe…"

She didn't even acknowledge my voice.

"Steph… Look at me, Babe! The guys know what they are doing. Ram needs these pictures to figure out how to get that off you."

Her gaze met mine, and she tried to nod her head.

Bobby's voice rang out. "Bomber, hold your head still, sweetie. Ram might need to ask you some questions. I don't want you trying to talk or moving your head yet. Blink once for yes and twice for no."

"Bombshell, were you awake when he put this on you?" Ram inquired.

Steph blinked once.

"Did he brag about it as he put it on?"

One blink.

"Did he say anything about the triggers?"

One blink.

Ram didn't need her help. He was asking the questions to distract her. He looked over the images for a moment, still questioning Steph the whole time. He quickly snipped a wire attached to the bomb. "Remote detonator neutralized, boss."

I quickly went over to Steph and rubbed the pad of my finger across her cheek. "All right, Bobby. Tell me what I need to do, and then I want everyone out of here. Just Ram and I need to be in here with her."

All four men immediately started to complain.

"That's not a request. It's an order!" My eyes flicked between my friends, who reluctantly nodded their heads before retreating out of the building.

Bobby finally started to give me directions. "Before I leave, I'm going to bandage this as best I can. I don't think it's as bad as it looks. It's just in a bad location so that when she moves her head, it opens it up. The only reason it's bleeding when she talks is she tends to be very animated and bobs her head. The important thing is going to be keeping her head still until we can get her out of here to get her stitched up the right way."

"Boss…" Ram got my attention from behind Steph.

He made some hand signals telling me that he had his plan of attack in place for disarming the vest. The last signal was numbers. The percentage of probability he gave us surviving this. The fifty-percent chance was less than ideal, but I had enough faith in his ability. His time in the Army as an EOD tech had been well spent. I felt almost guilty about asking him to even attempt it. His wife Katie had just found out she was pregnant.

He started talking to Steph. "Bombshell, I'm going to cut some wires. I need you to trust me, okay? Boss, I want you to start ever so carefully getting her ready to move. Don't touch the straps near the vest yet."

She blinked once while I gave a nod of understanding. He wanted us ready to move when the time came.

"Babe, do you think you can stand on you own?"

She blinked once, so I very slowly started removing the straps that had her pinned to the cross.

"Ram, there are two straps near that vest. Are they clear?"

He shook his head.

He made two cuts rather quickly. I knew what he was doing. He was removing wires that he knew were duds to give him more space to work in the small area.

Ram's cuts became slower, more calculated, as each second ticked off the timer. Each flash of the seconds passing brought us closer and closer to our doom.

Ram looked at me with less than three minutes on the clock. "I hate to say this, but our best option is going to be unzipping the damn thing and running like hell. I've neutralized the zipper trigger." He started taking off his bomb suit. "We're going to take it off, Steph, and get the hell out of Dodge!"

Once out of his suit, he gave me a nod. "While I unzip the vest, you cut those damn straps. We've got two minutes to get the fuck out of here."

"Tank, start pulling everyone back. Bomb's hot! I repeat, bomb's hot! Countdown's at one four five."

As slowly as possible, he unzipped the vest from her chest. The sight under the vest was horrid. The bastard had cut off her shirt, leaving just a sports bra on. There were slashes and burns marring her beautiful creamy skin. I wished I could kill the bastard all over again. I quickly cut the straps as Ram slowly set the vest on the ground. Forty-five seconds left on the countdown. I swooped Steph up in the cradle of my arms, and we took off running through the warehouse. I started counting as we ran for the outer doors. I knew I was causing her pain as we ran full out, but I couldn't stop to be gentle as the seconds quickly ticked off the timer.

We reached the outer door with fifteen seconds left to spare. We continued to run as fast as our legs could go. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one…

Boom…

A/N: Runs and hides behind Jenny…

I know, I know. I'm mean! Like really mean!

The good news is that the next chapter is done and ready to post.

Again, sorry for the delay but thanks for sticking around. I thought life got calmer the older your kids got. My youngest is a Senior! I'm not sure how that happened at all.