35. Elfin Around

The days leading up to Christmas Eve were jam-packed. Before Lil had left Ranger's office on Friday, she inquired about her upcoming shopping trip with Steph. He checked the guard schedule, informing her that Cal and Ace would be her partners for the day. She also made sure to mention the delivery of packages she was expecting. Ranger didn't realize quite how many boxes would be arriving… he'd soon find out. When he asked her who was watching Tilde, she mentioned needing to speak with Ella. "Why don't you leave her with me Dulce?", Lil was intrigued that he seemed genuinely interested in watching the Peanut on a Saturday. "We can hang out, read more books. I'm offline the whole day, so there won't be any interruptions." Lil agreed, only because she thought he would be upset if she declined. After dropping the bomb about the Boston betrayal, Ranger could use a little happy. This was a simple thing to give him. And let's face it, Tilde would be very pleased to spend the day with Carlos.

The first half of Saturday was enough to make Lil want to stay inside the Rangeman building, and never, ever leave. Christmas shopping with Stephanie was torturous. It wasn't her shopping companion, Lil and Steph got along wonderfully. It was the damn crowds. If people in New Jersey were crazy on a normal day, they were insane near the holidays. Lil had to stop herself twice from pulling her gun, and that was only in the first store. Stephanie told her all about Brian, the news editor at the Times. He sounded like a really nice guy, someone who could be good for her new friend. Steph hemmed and hawed over two different dresses for their date. Lil finally helped her decide by finding the perfect shoes to match one of them. While waiting for Steph to choose a first date outfit, Lil treated herself to a few new dresses. She figured it would be nice to have something special to wear on Christmas and Christmas Eve. Cal and Ace had done a good job of remaining in the shadows. Though when it came time to select shoes and accessories, the men kindly gave Lil their opinions. On a whim, Lil purchased a sexy gold dress… Maybe it would work for New Years Eve one year in the future.

Lil and the men didn't make it home from the mall until after lunch. Lil was officially done with humanity. She dropped her bags off at the apartment before going in search of her daughter. That was a feat in itself, her packages had arrived, they were taking up most of the living room. She checked the office on five, no Carlos or Tilde. With few other options, she took the elevator to seven. Standing outside his door, Lil knocked. She heard a faint "come in" from the other side. Huh. Using her fob, she ran the device over the small panel next to the door, it popped open with a gentle click. Interesting. Inside, Ranger and Tilde were in the living room. Index cards surrounded them on the floor. Ranger gave Lil a smile while holding up a finger. Tilde was tracing the letters to Knox before saying them out loud and then reading the word. "Are you ready Querida?" Ranger's smile was a big as Tilde's. The little girl nodded enthusiastically. He motioned Lil to come closer and sit on the couch while collecting all of their cards. Lil sat down in 'her spot' while Tilde moved into his lap, she was carrying her Fox in Socks book. Lil had a good view of each page. Ranger opened the book to the first page and Tilde began to read "Fox. Socks. Box. Knox." Lil's intelligent daughter proceeded to read the entire book, unassisted. Lil had tears in her eyes by the time she was done. "Very good Tilde, now show mommy in Spanish." Ranger was rubbing her back encouragingly. Lil's eyebrows were touching her hairline. Tilde returned to the first page, "Zorro, Calcetines, Caja, Knox." Lil sat, completely stunned. Ranger was smiling with all his might. She got a little tongue tied toward the middle, with chicks and bricks and blocks and clocks in Spanish. But she did it! It was amazing. By the end, Lil was definitely crying happy tears. She congratulated her daughter. "Carlos, you are a wonderful teacher!" He tried to pretend he hadn't done much, pointing out that it was Tilde's natural smarts making it all possible. Lil wasn't fooled.

Sunday was the day that Christmas formally threw up all over the Rangeman building. That is to say, Ella and Lil spent ten hours placing decorations and multiple Christmas trees on the first, fourth, and fifth floors. By dinner time, the building was transformed into a winter wonderland that was a hiccup away from too much. A very stately tree was placed in the lobby on the first floor. It was decorated in poinsettias; red on the bottom, white in the middle, and blue on top. Also on the first floor, in the large conference room they would use for dining and presents, a seven-foot tree was erected. The motif was a rainbow, with solid colored baubles starting with yellow/gold on top and moving through all seven colors to the very bottom. It was whimsical while still looking quite elegant. A six-foot tree was placed near the monitors in the control room. This tree was special, thanks to Lil's twisted sense of humor, the tree was black. It was adorned simply with white, silver, and gold snowflakes. The Rangemen on duty were loving it. Lastly, the girls worked together to set up a special Disney-themed tree in Lil's apartment. It was so full of bright Disney characters, you could barely spot the tree branches. Tilde was astonished. The little girl had never seen anything so magical. Lil had taken a small break in the middle of decorating to have another PT session with Bobby. This time, Ranger wasn't watching. He was too busy up on the roof, working on his own Christmas magic with Luis.

When Lil walked into Cal's cubicle on Monday morning, she had a renewed sense of purpose. Her brother informed her that they didn't have any outstanding skips that needed her attention, which suited Lil just fine. She was a woman on a mission, a mission to help Carlos with the issue in Boston. She hadn't seen him since Saturday, but knew with every ounce of her being that the accounting fuck-up was really bothering him. Why wouldn't it? She found herself feeling extra protective where Carlos was concerned. The level of anger, disappointment, and frustration she was carrying was very 'mama bear'. One of the Boston Rangemen had messed with one of her own. Not a smart move. Lil shut herself in her office, determined to make some headway. She was starting with background checks on Johnny Stevens and Tim Bernelli. Her plan was to operate under the assumption that Carlos was right about Ramon and Zap being innocent, until she had no choice but to turn her search to them. She really hoped in never came to that. The checks on Johnny and Tim were mundane on the surface, neither offered any obvious red flags. Her gut was telling her that important things were missing though. She placed a few discrete phone calls to some contacts out west, including the PI she used for Giselle. Lil ended her day by sending Carlos an email, asking that EVERY bit of business conducted by the two men this week be kept separate from the others. When all else fails, follow the money.

Tank Tuesday was thankfully uneventful. They spent a few hours together logging old receipts and figures into the new system. Tank 'invited' Lil to lunch with him in the break room. He was so funny, making it out to be a date. They were enjoying some non-work time together over roast beef sandwiches when Tank gave her a conspiratorial smile, "So sister, got any plans for New Years?" Lil laughed, "Um, gee, I thought I'd fly to time square and dance naked around the giant ball." Tank was chuckling at her blatant sarcasm. "Why do you ask? Have you planned a fabulous shindig that beats frostbite on my tiny lady-bits?" He tried to keep the blush from taking over his entire face. "Actually, smart-ass, I do have a plan. The guys and I decided to do New Years here. And of course, you're invited. We're gonna party all night, well those of us who don't have to work." Lil was intrigued. "Awesome, anything I can help with?" Tank shook his head quickly. "No ma'am, this party is being planned without you. You've done enough!" Lil shrugged, a party without the work, sounded good to her.

The remainder of Tuesday was spent in 'Lil's Christmas Shoppe'. Wrapping Christmas gifts was always one of her favorite parts of the holiday. This year was even more fun because she had found specialized paper and ribbons. She had red USMC paper for Zero, Ace, and Ram with gold ribbons, and gold USAF paper for Hal, Zip, and Slick with blue ribbons. Cal, Vince, and Binkie had Navy paper in blue with gold ribbons, and the Army vet's gifts would be adorned in black Ranger paper with white ribbons. Not wanting to leave the others out, she found patriotic law enforcement paper for Manny, and Mexican flag wrapping for Hector. Tilde, Ella, and Luis would receive gifts in Mickey Mouse paper and bright red bows. While Lil wrapped until her fingers ached, Tilde worked on the card templates mommy had created for her. The little artist was drawing her own pictures under Lil's words.

Wednesday morning Lil worked with an over-excited Lester. When she finally broke down and asked him why he was so hyped up, his simple answer was "It's almost Christmas!" They went over a few contracts and bids for larger clients. Not much work was accomplished though, Lester was just too happy and distracted. Junior and Zero weren't any help. It seemed the Christmas spirit had infected Rangeman. They were regressing at an alarming rate. Awww. Big ol'softies. After lunch, Lil had some of the men help her bring all the toy and money donations into her office so she could take a final tally and wrap the children's gifts. She sent a teary-eyed email to all of the Rangemen when her job was done: "Thanks to all of your generous support and contributions, we have wrapped 78 new toys for some very deserving children. And, we have raised $6,775.00 for the local Trenton soup kitchen. I am so proud of you guys!" Ranger responded to the group email with a succinct "The soup kitchen will receive a total of $15k." Lil couldn't wait to have one of the guys drop off their donations!

With only one day left before the festivities started, Lil was up bright and early on Thursday morning. She finished her range time and had a PT session with the Doc before lunch, needing the rest of her day as free as possible for marathon baking. She and Ella were turning out cookies by the dozens, for the Rangemen and also for the VA. Cal and Manny stopped by to 'help' for a little while. Their version of helping involved quality control. Hector volunteered to drop the finished 16-dozen treats off to the Veterans. The women were blissfully exhausted, and hoped to not see another sugar cookie for quite some time. Once Tilde was tucked into bed, Lil used the remainder of her evening to wrap the munchkin's presents and hide them out of sight until the next evening. As she fell into bed that night, she was sore, but very happy. The next two days would be filled with joy and treats, gift giving and merriment. Lil's heart was filled to bursting. Tomorrow they would make Christmas memories with their new Rangeman family.