Thank you for all the reviews; you guys are amazing. Such good ideas :) And I'm sorry if I wasn't able to PM you all individually, last week was crazy for me at work.

If you recognize them, they're not mine :)

Thank you Margaret for reading ahead as my beta and leading me down the right path for all our favorite characters.

Chapter 29—Dressings and Dresses

Ranger's POV

I was going to stay with Stephanie until she was released. The microsurgery had been successful and the artery re-attached. She'd already received three pints of blood and was scheduled for a fourth as soon as an appropriate donor came forward. I'd offered my blood, which would do in an emergency, but it had been denied twice already. Once by Bobby and once by the phlebotomist. It seems that I have some additional clotting factors that might be problematic.

My cell buzzed in my pocket and I stepped away from Steph's side to answer it.

"I was trying to get Dr. Orlando, but he's not picking up." It was Lester, referencing the phlebotomist. "Jace and Sybo are on their way. Jace has Steph's blood type."

"Good. We were waiting for one more donor so we didn't have to use their reserve."

"How is she doing?"

"She's coming around from the anesthesia. She's in and out of it, but the surgery was successful."

"How about dancing in three weeks?"

"I haven't asked yet. We can always postpone our wedding."

"Isn't Julie scheduled to come up for it?"

"Yes?" I questioned rather than answered. Obviously Santos had something up his sleeve.

"You wouldn't want to disappoint her, would you?"

"If she knows that Steph is recovering and we've just moved the date, she'll be ok with it. It's not as if we've cancelled our wedding."

"True. I'm on my way to the clinic. Where is she?"

"We're still in recovery. They're not going to let you in until she's in a room. Finish up your shift and come by tonight."

I knew he worried about her but we had enough of a Rangeman presence here right now; what we really needed were people patrolling the streets of Trenton.

Steph stirred in front of me, so I reached around and picked up her hand. I scooted to the side so I could sit on the edge of her transport bed and brought her hand to my lips. If she was going to wake up I wanted her to know that I was there. Selfishly I wanted the first thing she saw to be me.

"Argh," she mumbled, then shifted.

"Babe, I'm right here," I told her, using my other hand to push a wayward curl behind her ear.

"Ranger?"

"Yes?"

"I think I'm in a hospital. What happened?"

"You stepped in to break up a disagreement between Eula and Cal's skip and the skip slashed you, severing an artery. You've just been through surgery. Don't you remember anything?"

"I remember pushing Eula out of the way and then I remember thinking that this was going to be bad...and then I guess I blacked out."

"You lost a lot of blood Babe. In fact you are due for another pint as soon as you get into a room. Don't worry. I'm not leaving your side."

"Thank you," she said trying to reach for me, then grimacing.

I reached down and placed a kiss on her lips. Her color was better but I'd yet to speak to her doctor about an estimated release time.

My phone buzzed in my pocket and I pulled it out to send the call to voicemail. I noticed that the caller was Cal so instead of ignoring it, I answered.

"Yo," I said, stepping back to not disturb Steph or the staff. I mouthed 'Cal' to her and pointed to the door. She nodded that she understood.

"What's up man?"

"Ram and I did a little reading up on my skip Whittier and we're almost 100% sure he's come in contact with Kraven in the past. I'd almost go as far as to say that Kraven sent him here to hurt Steph and probably Hector too. Ram and I are going to take a ride to Orange County to see what we can find out. Just wanted to give you a heads up. And I left copies of all the information that was pulled together on your desk. You may want to have someone go over them with an even finer comb than we did."

"And you found this out how?"

"Steph had started a search before she headed out to talk to Eula. I just picked up the paperwork from her printer and was reading it when Ram came by. He took half the stack from me and he was the one who picked up on the probable connection."

"Nice work. How's your arm?"

"I'll live."

"Let Ram drive, you don't need that opening up...and don't get into any altercations for at least 24-hours."

"You sound like Bobby."

"It's for your own good. Thanks for the heads up."

I disconnected and went back into recovery. The nurses were prepping Steph for a ride to a room. Good. I knew she hated being here almost as much as she hated St. Francis or Helene Fuld. The sooner she was in a room, the sooner we could go home.

Dr. Orlando came into recovery just as one of the nurses released the brake on the bed with her foot. I was planning on following Steph's bed to her room but now I was torn.

"Dr. Orlando, is there a problem?"

"We have another one of your security force here with type AB, I just wanted to thank you for putting out the word. This pint should do it."

"That must be Jason..."

"It is..."

"Let me ask you a question. Our wedding is three weeks away, should I look into postponing it?"

"She's on blood thinners right now and she'll have to remain in the hospital so we can monitor her while she's on them. I'd say five days. During this time I'll remove the drain and the catheter and then she should start to heal pretty rapidly. I think she'll be able to walk down the aisle for her wedding. I just hope it's a long dress, the cut was pretty large."

"I haven't seen her dress yet but if she needs to pick out another one I'm sure that can be arranged. Thank you doctor."

"My pleasure. They're moving her to room 402, might as well let the men outside know."

"Thank you."

I flashed back to my conversation with Cal a couple of minutes ago. He said he felt that Whittier might have been sent by Kraven to harm Steph and Hector. Well it looks like he got to Steph; but how the hell did he know she would try to stop an altercation between himself and Eula? I could only guess at that. And now I had to worry about Hector too. In fact, I didn't even see Hector when we left in the ambulance. Just to be on the safe side, I took out my phone and placed a call.

"Yo boss."

"Where are you?"

"Rafe and I are following Whittier. We saw him walk a few blocks north before getting into a car. Homeless people don't own cars so we're on the Garden State Parkway following him north. Why?"

I told him what I'd just learned from Cal.

"So he probably snuck a file into Connie's inbox somehow. That's why Cal was missing paperwork," Hector deducted.

"Just be careful, you're on Kraven's list too."

"Yeah, I know. He wants to castrate me. I'll keep my balls safe. Whittier's getting onto Rt. 4 eastbound. He could be heading for the George Washington bridge. We're a couple of cars behind him."

"Cal and Ram are on their way to Orange County to try to find him; if Whittier goes over the bridge let Cal know. And stay in touch with the control room. Please."

I didn't want to be playing middleman here, I wanted to be with Steph, but I knew that if Hector was on to something he wouldn't stop until he reached his target. So after ending the call with Hector I pressed Cal's number.

"Yo," he answered on what sounded like hands-free. At least he was being safe.

"Just heard from Hector. He and Rafe have Whittier in sight; looks like he may be heading for the GW Bridge," I said repeating what I'd just heard from Hector.

"Or the Palisaide's Parkway if he took Rt. 4. We're still planning to head into NY State and then up towards Harriman. I have a hunch that's where he's headed."

I had four of my best men following Whittier's trail. I should have felt relieved; but I didn't.

Jace's POV

I was sitting in the reclining chair, giving my pint. Sybo was sitting next to me. He'd decided to give a pint also; it couldn't help Steph but it could go to someone else in need. Suddenly a fleeting image of Hector passed through my mind. The last time I ignored my so-called ESP, Steph was attacked.

"Sy, can you call Hector?" I asked seeing the phone in his hand.

"You feeling that thing again?"

"Yeah."

He immediately placed a call; it went to voicemail.

"Try Raphael, they're together today," I prodded again, remembering the lineup I saw posted in the breakroom.

"Rafe? It's Sy. Is Hector with you?" he asked in lieu of any kind of greeting.

"Put it on speaker," I said and motioned for him to hurry up, so I could hear what Raphael had to say too.

"Yeah, he's here. He's driving. We're following the guy who slashed Stephanie."

"The homeless guy?"

"I don't think he's homeless," Rafe told Sy, "he's driving around in a 2001 Subaru. There's something else going on here and we're going to find out just what that is."

"Where are you?"

"We were on the service road for the GW bridge but Whittier just passed the last exit for it and now he's heading north. We're two cars behind him."

"Jace you're the one feeling something, do you want to talk to Rafe?" he asked me.

"Yeah," I said taking the phone from him. "Rafe, it's Jace. I don't want to sound like a mother hen but I have a bad feeling you're being led into a trap. I want to call for backup, do you have any idea where you're headed?"

"We're getting on to the Palisade's Parkway north. Ram and Cal were heading this way earlier, they are probably somewhere behind us. I'll call them, there's no need to dispatch anyone from Trenton. It's too far away, they'd never get here in time."

"Newark isn't that far. We can re-route a car that's patrolling there. I think Hal's on monitor duty, I'll have him pick up your co-ordinates and send someone out. I don't like what I'm feeling and I'd rather you had mega backup."

"We're driving in his blind spot, he doesn't see us at all, so it's your call."

"As soon as we hang up with you, we're calling Hal…and Cal. Be safe."

"I'm with Hector, safety may not play a part in this. He wants to talk to that guy, so we're on him until he stops. I'll talk to you later."

I handed Sy's phone back to him and looked up to see Ranger. His arms were crossed over his chest and he didn't look happy. Shit. Nothing like pissing off the boss.

"What the hell is going on?" Ranger asked taking two steps forward so he was in our faces.

Ella's POV

As soon as I heard that Steph was going to be well enough for her wedding in three weeks, I went into action. Ashley, Bobby's girlfriend, is approximately the same size as Steph, maybe she's a bit bigger in the chest, but their hip size is the same. My plan was to surprise Steph in the clinic with a few wedding dresses to choose from and Ashley graciously agreed to be my model.

I'd had the dresses and shoes that I'd showed to Steph the other day sent directly to Rangeman, deviating from my plan to take Steph to the mall to try them on. Ashley and I were now in my bedroom giving them a quick inspection before heading to the clinic in Philly."

"Ella, this is so pretty," Ashley hummed as she tried on the slip dress I really hoped would be Steph's first choice.

"Your coloring is much lighter but can't you see her dark curls cascading down her shoulders wearing this?" I asked.

"I could even see me wearing this, but the thought of a marriage isn't even on Bobby's radar at this point."

"Why not?" I asked.

"I don't know. He's probably seen some things I can't even fathom that have turned him off to anything permanant."

"I'm sure Ranger has been through similar experiences and he and Steph are finally taking the plunge. And I see the way he looks at you. He's in love. I don't think the idea of marriage is as far away in his mind as you think it is."

"Well things are good between us right now, so it's not even something I'm going to bring up," she mumbled taking off one dress and putting on another. "Are you sure we shouldn't just take pictures of these instead of barging into Steph's room with them?"

"I want her to be able to feel the fabric too. She has to love something; not just like it. You know Steph."

"Ok, these all fit," she said as she slipped the third dress over her head and zipped it up. "You seem to have our size down perfectly and I noticed that these dresses are not all the same size. How do you do it Ella?"

"I don't know. I guess years of practice. I've been picking out things for Steph for…oh, make that three years now."

She paused as if thinking. "Yeah, that will do it. But they weren't together all that time, were they?"

"No. It's complicated but I think you know about Steph and Detective Morelli."

"I'd heard something."

"So let's get the show on the road," I said not wanting to elaborate on that ugly triangle. "I just want to put the dresses into these suit bags and the shoes into that large shopping bag and we can take off for the clinic. And I do hope she likes one of these."

"Ella, she will. Stop worrying. They are all very beautiful."