25. Ranger Tough

Lil and Tilde spent Tuesday in their apartment. Tilde played while Lil rested as much as she could. The craziness of Thanksgiving followed by hours of desk work had done a job on her body. She had tried stretching, heat, and ice. Nothing was alleviating the neuropathy. Upstairs, Tank was getting all the men up to speed on their new programs. Bobby and Ram were very happy with their personalized systems. The rest of Rangeman was pleased to cut back on the paperwork. They all agreed that greater efficiency in the office meant more time to secure clients, catch criminals, shoot things… Tank didn't care what their motivation was, as long as they learned Lil's new system and used it.

Wednesday was the first day of December. Ranger was making calls to clients in his office, with Magnus. Since learning why the dog was acting so strange, they had come to an agreement of sorts. When Magnus got to be a little too stalker-like, Ranger would send him to patrol the floor. This usually kept him busy for a while. Otherwise, they would spend their time in companionable silence. Really, the Rottweiler wasn't so bad. Ranger was just finishing a call with a particularly pedantic client when Cal knocked on his door. "Boss, Hal just got a lead on Simmons. His bond forfeits in forty-eight hours. I need to go with him and Woody to make sure we get him. But, I'm supposed to watch the Peanut this morning while Lil has her physical therapy." Cal stepped further into the office, illustrating his point as the little girl was perched on his hip with Pua. Ranger blinked once, twice, momentarily at a loss. The moment passed. "Leave her with me. We really need to get Simmons. Do you need additional backup?" Cal didn't think so, but would have Zip and Ace standing by just in case.

Cal placed a kiss on Tilde's curls as he sat her down in Ranger's guest chair. "I gotta go catch a bad guy sweetie. You stay here with Mr. Ranger until mommy is done downstairs." Tilde tilted her head and looked at the two men. "Nope. I stay with Mr. Carlos." Cal laughed and pulled a curl. "OK big girl, whatever you say." He headed for the stairwell, off to rid the streets of another piece of scum. Magnus came over to sit with his tiny human. Tilde gave Ranger a small smile, "Whatcha doing?" He chuckled. She was so fearless, so inquisitive. "Well, I just finished making some phone calls. Now I need to read over the reports that your mommy helped set up. Want to see?" Tilde happily climbed out of her chair and up to Ranger's occupied seat. "Mommy is smart." He smiled as he lifted her up. "Yes, your mommy is very smart." He pulled a report up on the computer. Tilde pointed to the screen, "A", she was pointing at the letter A. "Very good." He liked that she was so intelligent for her age. Tilde pointed again, "the". Now he was startled. The first time he was just assuming she was pointing out the alphabet letters she knew. He didn't know she could read or recognize entire words. Interesting.

Ranger brought up a new blank page in his program. He typed a few words. Tilde immediately pointed to and said her own name, Magnus's name, and banana. She easily knew which words were 'mommy' and 'dog'. When he typed 'Carlos', she was stuck. They spelled it out together, then sounded it out. Finally, she got it. She pointed to him "Carlos". He was proud of her. "Very good Tilde. You are very smart, like mommy." They spent another thirty minutes testing her on words, him teaching her the ones she didn't already know. His actual work was completely forgotten. When he typed 'Carlos' on his screen again, she knew what it was without hesitation. Smart kid. He could foresee a time when teachers may have a hard job keeping up with her. "Do you know where mommy is?" Those big eyes were a little misty when she asked. "She's in the gym with Bobby. Why?" Tilde looked a little gloomy. "Mommy's been hurtin. It makes me sad." Not knowing what else to do, he pulled up the monitor feed for the gym. "See, there's mommy on the weight machine." They both watched in silence for a few minutes. Even in black and white, on a small screen, Ranger could see that Lil was not doing well. "Come on Little One. Let's go down and visit them. He picked her up and placed her on his shoulders. Tilde giggled at her new height.

They entered the otherwise deserted gym where Bobby was off to the side watching Lil finish the work for her shoulder. Ranger approached, trying to seem less interested than he really was. He tried to keep their presence less noticeable, not wanting to distract Lil. Of course, that didn't work. She had true 'mom radar', she new her child was near. Lil gave them a tight smile. Ranger nodded and turned to Bobby, "Explain". Bobby shook his head in silent frustration. "I think her pain is worse, But she's trying to keep it to herself. She hasn't been as talkative today. Her focus is a little off. I think the work we're doing is starting to make an impact, but the pain is going to get worse before it gets any better." Ranger watched Lil finish her set and replace the dumbbells. She came over to them, wiping the sweat from her face. Her gate was different, her posture much more rigid than normal. Still she leaned up and kissed her daughter with a smile. "Where's Uncle Cal sweetie?" Tilde explained that he was out catching bad guys, so Mr. Carlos was playing with her. Lil gave him an apologetic look. "You can leave her here Carlos, I don't want to take up your time." He shook his head, "No problem. We were having fun. I can keep her til you're done." With that he took Tilde over to one of the mats asking "Do you want to learn how to do a forward tumble?"

Bobby and Lil made their way over to the massage table he had set up near the mats. "Alright Doc, what's next?" Her tone was blatantly unenthusiastic. "We need to do another round of AIS, and then try for more acupressure. How bad is the pain, really Lil?" She blanched. "It's fine. I can handle it." Bobby was trying to not be annoyed. "I didn't ask if you could handle it. Shit, I think you could handle just about anything. I asked how bad it was." She looked thoroughly chastised. "An eight. Mostly my legs. Started coming on at Thanksgiving." Bobby was nodding and scribbling notes in her file. He was trying to keep good records, hoping to establish a pattern of movements or events that caused her symptoms to worsen. So far there was nothing that gave him an 'aha' moment. Nearby, Ranger was playing with Tilde, listening very hard to the adult's conversation. That meant that she had been in pain for two and a half or three days. And in that time she had also revolutionized Rangeman's administrative programs. Well damn.

Bobby took Lil through the forty-five minute process of torture, or AIS. By the time they were done, Lil was not looking very good. Her face was flushed in an unhealthy way, she wasn't speaking, and she was sweating like she'd spent an hour on the mats with Tank. Ranger was ready to punch something, but tried to keep his focus on the giggling little girl on the floor with him. When Bobby started working on the acupressure points, Lil's moans were almost pitiful. Ranger knew she was trying to be quiet, always the trooper, but she wasn't succeeding today. When he pressed hard into the points at the backs of her knees, she almost lifted off the table. Tilde stiffened and watched her mommy with glassy eyes. Time for a distraction. Ranger started instructing Tilde on how to roll backwards instead of forwards. The little girl was a natural gymnast. Her frame was so small, she could turn into a tight little ball with no problems. She also listened and followed his words very well.

When the acupressure was finished, Bobby told Lil to stay on the table. He went to the cupboard in the corner and removed some hot towels from the warmer. When he returned, he placed them on her lower back and legs. Lil closed her eyes, trying to keep her breath steady. Both men could see exactly how Lil had not only made it through the shooting, but also saved lives in the process. She was tough. Ranger tough. Bobby left the warm towels on for fifteen minutes before replacing them with cold compresses. "Alright Slugger, you're almost done. Is that helping any?" Lil flexed her feet and twisted her head so she could see him. "Ya, that's a little better. Maybe a six now." She wasn't complaining, didn't seem disheartened that her pain wasn't miraculously gone by now. "All my research and talks with the specialists leads me to believe this is a good thing. The increased pain means we are waking up those nerves that were affected. Stimulating them more than they're used to. I think once this flair up subsides, we can start trying to decrease the AIS and move into straight massage therapy. Still, if you want something stronger than ibuprofen for the pain, I'd be happy to give it to you. Lil shook her head quickly, "No Doc, no pills. But thanks. And don't stop the AIS too soon. If you think I need more, then we'll keep doing it. I'll manage." Bobby patted her shoulder. He really hated that she was in this situation at all.

When Lil was done, she gingerly picked herself up off the table and walked over to Ranger and Tilde. "Thanks Carlos, you can get back to work. I can take her from here." Ranger just shook his head. "It's fine. I don't need to be anywhere else right now. Besides, I'm the boss." He gave her a devilish smile. They watched Tilde complete a forward then backward roll, clapping when she was done. Ranger scooped her up and headed to the elevator. As they rode up two floors, he told Lil about the reading they did in his office. Lil beamed. Every parent thought their child could be the next Einstein. Lil might actually be right. When they entered the girl's apartment, Magnus was waiting for them. Ranger told Lil to go shower. She grudgingly agreed, still feeling like she was monopolizing his time. While she bathed, Ranger and Tilde searched the fridge. They pulled out enough snacks to create a lite lunch, setting the plates out as Lil emerged from the bedroom. "What's this?" Her smile was a little more relaxed. "Mommy, we made you lunch!" Awww.

They ate quietly at the table, Lil looked like she was ready to fall asleep. As Lil and Ranger cleaned up the plates he turned to her, "You're dead on your feet. Why don't you lay down for a while. I'll take Tilde back upstairs. I'll bring her down at dinner time." Lil wanted to object, started to object, but then she just couldn't. The pain and the PT had really zapped her of every reserve she had stored up. She nodded sheepishly as she yawned. Ranger placed Tilde back on his shoulders. "Tilde, you be a good girl for Mr. Carlos, OK?" Tilde nodded with a 'yes ma'am'. She told Ranger that Tilde would likely fall asleep in an hour, she would happily nap on his office couch. She gave her daughter a kiss, then without thinking, placed a kiss on Ranger's cheek as well. That weird feeling in his chest was back and stronger than ever.