Family Ties

Chapter 6

The morning came too early, again. I got up with a sigh and headed for the shower. I hoped Snake had some news for us today. I hate waiting. I had just finished getting dressed when Ranger knocked on the connecting door.

"Hey Babe, sleep okay?"

I nodded. "You?"

He didn't exactly answer. "We've got an hour or so before Snake is expected back. You want to go out for breakfast or order room service?"

I smiled over at him. "Definitely room service."

"You want me to order for you?"

"Sure, you know what I like."

The small smile was back. "I sure do."

I blushed, and busied myself picking up the room. Ranger ordered breakfast, then started pacing.

"Ranger?"

He stopped, waiting.

"You sure you should be the one to do this?"

He took a deep breath. "I'm not controlling myself very well, am I?"

"No, and it's a little unnerving."

"I'll get it together. I just hate waiting here with no control over anything."

"I know. You have to trust that Jack will get what he's after, and then your work starts."

He nodded. "I do trust Jack. I just can't stand not knowing what's happening."

I don't know what I might have said to that, as his cell phone started to ring, and he went back to his room to answer it.

I sat down to wait for room service, and my phone started ringing as well. Hmm, it was Tank. "Hello?"

"Hey Bombshell, the Boss with you?"

"Not right this second, did you need to talk to him?"

"Actually, I called to talk to you. I just wanted to make sure he was out of earshot."

"He is. What's up?"

"Just wanted to see how he's holding up, he didn't look good when he showed up here."

I took a deep breath. I didn't quite know what to say. It seemed wrong to be talking about him behind his back this way, but this was Tank, and I knew he had Ranger's best interests at heart.

"Steph, you still there?"

"I'm here, just don't know what to say."

"Has he slept? Eaten?"

"Yes to both. He's...antsy, I guess. We haven't really been able to get started, we're waiting on some information."

"Yeah, he's spent a lot of time at the hospital, until he was sure Sam would live. Since then, he's just been focused on catching the bastard. Listen, Steph, he may settle down some when the work starts. Keep an eye on him. If you feel like you need me to come down there, don't hesitate, just call, I'll be on the next flight."

"Thanks Tank, I will." I heard Ranger opening the connecting door. "Gotta go." I disconnected.

"Everything okay?" I asked him.

He smiled, the most genuine one I had seen since this started. "Fine. They're lightening up Sam's sedation, and she smiled at her dad this morning."

"I'm glad."

"So, how was Tank?"

Should have known I wouldn't be able to keep that from him. "Worried about you."

"What did you tell him?"

I sighed. "That you had slept, and eaten, and that I'd keep an eye on you."

He shook his head a little, before asking "And he said?"

"That if I thought he should come down here to call, he'd be on the next flight."

Breakfast arrived before he could respond, and we settled in to eat.

We had just finished, and were stacking the dishes before he brought it up again. "Thank you both. I'm fine."

I looked at him, curious. "Would you tell me if you weren't?"

He held my eyes. "I...don't know."

I took a deep breath. "Ranger, you can't expect me to be your partner in this if I can't count on you to tell me if it's too much. I can't do this without you, and if you can't focus... I wouldn't know what to do."

The small smile was back. "Actually, Babe, you could do this without me." I looked at him, incredulous. "I'm serious. This Sonny person seems to have the kind of connections here that you have in the 'Burg. Snake could provide you with the muscle, and Kappy would be able to guide you through the legal maze to get them back to Trenton. With your instincts, and your luck, you don't really need me for this."

I didn't know how to respond to that. "That's beside the point, really. Even if I could do this without you, that's not in my plan. I still need to know I can count on you to tell me... anything you need to tell me."

The smile became a grin. "That covers a lot of ground, Babe. Sure about that?"

I leaned toward him, and brushed his lips with mine, very gently. "Absolutely."

His cell phone rang again, but this time it was on his hip. "Yo. We're on our way." He disconnected.

"That was Kap, Snake and Sonny are on their way in to the office."

I nodded, and gathered my things.

We were driving to the office before either of us spoke again. "Tell me about Jack and Pat."

He glanced toward me. "What do you want to know?"

"How did they meet? And how Pat 'stole' him from you."

He smiled. "That's a great story. Pat was working a parental abduction case, and it led her to Trenton. She didn't have any connections there, so she came to Rangeman to hire backup and help. I gave her Snake. Anyway, the two of them finally track down the exact location of where this guy is hiding his daughter." He started to chuckle.

"What? Don't stop there, they tracked the guy down and then what?"

"The plan was this. Snake would sneak the two of them into the house, they'd find the little girl, and Kap would get her out of the house while Snake dealt with the father where the girl couldn't see. With me so far?" I nodded. "Okay, so they get there, sneak into the house, and are having a hard time finding the girl. They finally head down to the basement, and find the girl just as the father finds them." He was laughing now. "Kap takes one look at the girl, and the plan goes out the window. Snake ended up having to get the girl out of the house and into his truck before coming back and pulling Kap off him. Man, I wish I could have seen that."

"The father mistreated her?"

He shrugged. "He didn't beat her, if that's what you're asking. She was old enough, and smart enough not to believe her father when he told her that her mother didn't want her anymore, and that's why she would be living with him. She kept trying to escape to call her mother, so he locked her in the basement. Kap walks in, sees the girl dirty and cold, with peanut butter sandwiches and a pitcher of Koolaid, and goes to town on this guy. I think Snake fell for her right then and there." He was smiling to himself at the memory.

We were parked outside the office now, but he made no move to get out of the SUV. Instead, he turned toward me. "Anyway, Snake accompanies them all back here, to 'assist with the transfer', he says. It took him ten days. About a month later, Kap showed up in Trenton for a week. Pretty soon, they're doing the long distance thing with frequent visits back and forth. After about a year of this, Snake puts in his notice and moves out here. He buys out Kap's old partner, and they got married last year."

He shakes his head. "C'mon, let's go meet Sonny."