17. Crafty

It wasn't long after her second song that Lil was too tired to enjoy herself anymore. Ranger gladly took her home, Tank and Lester leaving with them. She tried to convince Lester to stay and have fun. He insisted on sticking with her. She thanked them for a lovely evening at the elevator and was in bed not long after checking on Tilde and placing a blanket over Cal on the couch. Lil had enjoyed her time out, but it was exhausting. The dancing, the heels, the nervousness leading up to the night. It all took a toll on her. She would do it again sometime, but not too soon. Her shoulder was damn near immobile on Sunday morning, and the pain in her back and legs was beyond mild discomfort. She and Tilde spent the day just hanging out. Mostly they relaxed and read books together. In the evening, Ranger sent her a text asking if she had survived the outing alright. Lil realized she must not have been hiding her symptoms at the end of the night as well as she thought. She replied back with a 'I'm doing OK, thank you for asking', she didn't hear from him again. Maybe he wasn't a big text-er. Still, it was nice that he had thought to ask.

Monday, after a trip to the gym, Lil was tapping on Tank's office door with Tilde on her hip. His gruff "Enter!" made Lil jump and Tilde laugh. The little giggle had him lifting his head with a smile. He reached out his arms just in time for Tilde to launch herself airborne. Thank goodness that man has fast reflexes. "What can I do for you Lil? Everything OK?" He pointed to the guest chairs while he tickled his favorite girl. "Everything's good. I had a question though, I was hoping you could help me. As you know, Thursday is Veteran's Day. Tilde and I wanted to do something for all the men in the building who are vets. From what I can tell, there are more than a few." Tank nearly blinded her with his smile. His appreciation and fondness for Lil grew on a daily basis. She was always so thoughtful. "OK, what can I help with?" Lil smiled equally bright. "Would it be possible to get a list of all the vets and what branch of the military they served with?" She hastily added, "I don't want any private or secret information..." He chuckled, it was cute that she was nervous to ask for such a simple thing. Though, she obviously appreciated their all but paranoid desire for privacy. He took a slip of paper out of his printer and drew four neat columns. He headed them, then listed the men's names underneath. "This is everyone except Hector and Manny. Hector, as I'm sure you've figured, has a different kind of 'training' in his background. Manny was never in the military, but served with the police department in Miami before joining us." He slid the page across the desk to her. She scanned it briefly with a nod. "Thank you so much Tank, you're the best!" She walked around his desk, gave him a kiss on the cheek and picked up Tilde. Lil nearly skipped out of his office, which made him smile even more. Having them around the Rangeman was refreshing.

The rest of Monday and all of Tuesday, the girls stayed in their apartment, crafting away. They started by making red felt poppies for all fifteen men. Lil tried to explain the significance of the flower to Tilde, it kind of took. She was just happy to be making things with mommy. Next, they worked on cards for the guys. Each card was shaped like a giant dog tag with a unique message. They made three cards colored in scarlet and gold with the US Marine Corps Force Recon logo for Ace, Ram, and Zero. Three giant dog tags were done in ultramarine blue and golden yellow with the US Air Force's Foreign Internal Defense logo for Slick, Zip, and Hal. Vince, Binkie, and Uncle Cal had cards in blue and gold with the Navy SEAL logo. The last six cards were black, white, and gold with the US Army Ranger's logo for Ranger, Tank, Lester, Bobby, Woody, and Junior. Lil helped Tilde sign her name to each card next to her own flowing signature. To add an extra bit of love, she donned some bright red lipstick and gave each card a kiss.

They were having so much fun making patriotic gifts, they couldn't seem to stop. Before she knew it, Lil was staring at a pile of glittering stars to hang from the ceiling. Each resembled the American Flag. Then, just to go that one step further, they made two banners. One said 'Happy Veterans Day! Thank you for your SERVICE' the other read 'HEROES don't wear capes, they wear DOG TAGS!'. "Well, what do you think Peanut? Do we need to make anything else?" Tilde had a nice sprinkling of glitter on her left cheek, her eyes glowing with excitement. "Mommy, we need cupcakes." Lil should have figured. Sweets like that were a real treat...smart kid. "OK, we can make cupcakes for the guys." Tilde was very happy. Lil looked through the fridge and pantry. She had just enough ingredients to make two dozen carrot cake cupcakes. She called Ella on the off chance that the miraculous woman had food coloring in her cupboard. Ella really was amazing.

Bobby phoned Tuesday evening to talk to Lil about her physical and massage therapy. He apologized for it taking longer than expected, he had been waiting to hear back from his colleague in DC. He was all set to start her sessions on Saturday. Lil told him about her increased pain, and why she thought it was amplified. Bobby promised her multiple times that he was going to do everything in his power to help her. He was such a sweetheart. She told him to not drive himself batty about it, she could cope either way. He insisted that if his attempts didn't work, he was going to have a specialist flown in. Lil really hoped he was exaggerating... Bobby was already researching specialists, just in case.

Ella delivered the food coloring and cupcake liners on Wednesday morning. She was tickled that Lil and Tilde were doing something special for the veterans at Rangeman. It was so rare for anyone to take notice of the men in a positive way. It often broke Ella's heart. Tilde proudly showed off their cards and crafts. Having already started the laundry and filled the break room, Ella decided to spend time with the girls while they baked. She enjoyed the opportunity to simply sit and watch while someone else manned the oven. As they mixed and poured, the subject of holidays came up. "Ella, what usually happens here on Thanksgiving? Do the guys celebrate in any way? It's my favorite holiday." Tilde was mixing a bowl of cream cheese frosting with all her little might, under Ella's watchful eye. "Well of course the men work, at least the ones scheduled for that Thursday. I try to put a few more festive things in the break room for them. But really, that's about all. I have offered to make a true dinner for them..." Ella sighed. "Let me guess", Lil gave her a wicked expression, "Carlos has always said NO." Ella laughed with a fast nod. The older woman was pleased to hear her use Ranger's real name. That was progress. "He tells me to not bother, that he doesn't want me going out of the way or doing extra work."

Lil continued to probe Ella with questions about the holiday. She wanted to know how the shifts were scheduled for special days like that, who tended to work them, what the logistics would be for an actual Thanksgiving dinner. She wasn't at all surprised to hear the Ranger always worked the holidays, sometimes double shifts, so his men could visit family if they wanted. "Cariña, most of the men do not have family, or if they do, their families are far away. I think they don't celebrate the big holidays because of it." Lil knew this was something that had bothered Ella for a long time. "What do you and Luis do every year?" Ella snickered. "Since coming to Rangeman, I have spent the holiday watching the parade and eating leftovers. There's no point in cooking a turkey for just the two of us." "Well, now Tilde and I are here. One way or another, we are ALL going to have a Thanksgiving this year!" Ella clapped her hands. Let the planning begin. An hour later and they had it all worked out. The timing, the location, the menu, and who would cook which items. It was a given that Tilde would 'make' the decorations. Now all Lil needed to do was convince Ranger…once their baking was done and the mess cleaned up.

Not knowing if he was busy, or even in the building, Lil sent Ranger a text that read 'Do you have a minute?' Less than ninety seconds later there was a knock on her door. She hollered a 'come in' from the kitchen where she was trying to remove the spots of frosting that Tilde had missed on her face. Ranger entered with a 'Yo'. Tilde launched herself again. He was surprised not only at her desire to be in his arms, but also at her speed and lift. Lil laughed, "I didn't mean you had to drop what you were doing and come right down here. I just needed to ask you a few questions." Ranger threw a giggling Tilde into the air and caught her. "It's fine. What do you need?" She was learning to read him better. For example, he was still wearing a straight face, even when playing with Tilde. But by the slight crinkle around his eyes, she could tell that he was enjoying their game. Maybe even happy to see them. It would be so much easier, less confusing, if his emotions were a little more transparent. The way he hid his thoughts was bound to cause all sorts of communication issues. Especially since he rarely spoke. But, if he was different, he wouldn't be Ranger. Just because she wanted to push him out of his control-freak zone didn't mean she wanted to change him completely.

Lil pointed to the living room then took a seat on the couch. Ranger and Tilde joined her on the other side. "Well...Since tomorrow is Veteran's Day, Tilde and I wanted to do a little something for the Rangemen who have served. We made cards and things." Lil hesitated, gauging his reaction. "It seems we got a little carried away. We ended up making a few decorations and cupcakes too." Ranger smiled. "You can use the break room." Lil relaxed her shoulders. "Oh good! That's what I was hoping. Thank you so much!" Ranger shook his head. "You don't have to thank me. You did all the work. And you want to do something nice for my men..."

This was all going way better than Lil had anticipated. Since he was being so cooperative, it was time for the big question. "Speaking of doing something nice for the men… Thanksgiving is in two weeks..." Ranger raised an eyebrow. "It happens to be my favorite holiday. Tilde and I always celebrate with a dinner. Would you mind if we shared our Thanksgiving with Rangeman this year?" Ranger gave her question some consideration. "What would that entail?" Lil sat up straighter, she hadn't been told NO, yet. "Ella explained to me about the scheduling on holidays, so we thought we could set one of the conference rooms up as a buffet. That way everyone gets to eat when their shift allows. Others who are off duty can come when they want. Ella, Tilde, and I will handle all of the food, setup, and cleanup. All you and the guys will have to do is show up when it's convenient." Ranger gave her a stern look, mostly just to mess with her. "No." Lil's heart sank but he continued. "You and Ella can handle the food. The men will set up and clean up. The bill goes to me." Lil smiled. He could really be a gentleman when he wanted to. "Tilde, do you hear that? We're going to have a big Thanksgiving with Carlos and all of Rangemen!" The little girl smiled before placing a sweet kiss on Ranger's cheek.