Hospital Staff POV

The victim of the accident had been brought in over three months ago and was still unconscious. He came in with no ID and they had no idea who he was, as he didn't match any missing person reports. They were able to treat most of his injuries, the most serious being his left leg. The majority of the bones had breaks or had shattered upon impact. They operated on him two times and the orthopedics were finally happy with the healing that had started in his leg. He would need one more surgery, and they were hoping he would be awake by that time. The neuro staff could not come up with any explanation as to why he hadn't woke up yet. He had no head injuries and there was just no explanation. All of his other injuries were superficial and had healed over time.

The nurses had started to make up stories about who he was and what he was doing at the gas station that day. The latest had him as a government spy who was tracking a terrorist across the country and the driver that ran into him was a part of the terrorist's team. She had to chuckle over that one. The actual driver of the car that hit him had had a fatal heart attack while driving and had been slumped over the wheel when he him the man. The car had slowed down some and eventually hit the side of the gas station store before coming to a stop.

The upcoming week would be the start of the fourth month he was at the hospital. She hoped that he would wake up soon. She's sure that someone was missing him.

Steph POV

It had now been seven months since Ranger had left and five months since he had called. I kept hoping that he would call again, but Tank kept telling me that no news was good news. I'm not so sure I believe that anymore.

I had been sitting at my desk and the baby was being very active today. I'd never found out the sex of the baby because Ranger wasn't here with me. Surprisingly, my family was very supportive and my mother especially had been checking on me more often as I near the end of the pregnancy. She'd come over a few times and helped get the nursery set up. I'd had the contractor paint it a pale yellow and the guys had given us the furniture as a baby gift.

I saw a shadow fall across my desk and looked up to see Tank standing there with a blank face. That couldn't be good. "Hey Steph, can you come in my office for a minute?" he asked. "Sure big guy, help me up and I'll go with you." He grabbed my hands and hauled me up and we walked into his office. Once in the door, I saw Bobby and Lester sitting on the couch. I looked at them and crooked my eyebrow. I had finally mastered it and was proud of myself. I couldn't wait to show Ranger, he always laughed whenever I tried.

Tank walked over to his desk and sat down. "Bomber, have a seat." I looked between him and the other two and said, "No, I think I'll stand. It takes too much effort to sit and stand back up again." Bobby and Lester stood up and came to stand next to me, one on each side. "Bomber, I got a delivery today from Ranger's handler. It was returned to an in Army recruiting office outside of Washington DC and then eventually made its way to his handler." He reached down and pulled up a duffle bag. I recognized it as Ranger's and I had last seen it the night he showed up before he left on this job. "I haven't opened it yet because I wanted you to be here with me when I did." He pushed the bag towards me and I stepped up to his desk. I unzipped it and looked inside. I pulled out some shirts and shorts, socks and boxers, a bag of toiletries, a couple of notebooks and pens, and bottle of gel. I turned the bottle over and looked at it and laughed. "He took a bottle of my shower gel with him. I noticed it was missing and a bottle of his was left in its place, but I never imagined he took mine with him."

Tank reached for the notebooks and said, "Ranger takes notes during these missions and before you can look at these, I need to see what's inside and pass it on if it's about the mission. Sometimes he turns them in during his debriefings." He opened them one at a time and it was the last one that made him pause. He looked up at me and said, "The first two were blank so it's okay to look at them. This one seems to be a journal of some sort and is not related to the mission."

"What does it say Tank?" I asked. He looked at me and then at Bobby and Lester. "The first page has instructions on what to do with the bag in the event that he doesn't return from the mission."

I didn't say anything and just stared at him. I thought about what he just said and then it hit me. I started to sway and I started to fall. Bobby and Lester reached out and grabbed me before I fell and put me on the couch. I had tears running down my face and just kept shaking my head. "No, he can't be gone. I don't feel it, he's not gone." I kept repeating it and then Bobby was crouched down next to me. "Steph, how's the baby doing?" I looked at him and shook my head. "He's not gone Bobby. He's not, he's coming home and we're going to have a baby and live happily ever after." "Steph, how's the baby?" He put his hands on my stomach and pushed gently to feel the baby move. He took my blood pressure and kept watching me.

After about an hour, the door opened and Cal brought my mom into the room. She came over and pulled me into her arms. "He's not gone, he's not. I don't feel it." She just held me and then eventually pulled back and looked at me. "Stephanie, why don't we go upstairs and you can lie down and rest? The baby needs you to rest." Lester and Bobby helped me stand up and when I started to walk, my legs crumbled and then Lester swept me up into his arms and carried me upstairs to the apartment. He put me in bed and my mom sat with me, not saying anything, just rubbing my back and listening to me repeat over and over that Ranger wasn't gone. Bobby showed up a few minutes later and talked to my mom. "I've talked to her OBGYN and got the permission to give her a mild sedative. She needs to rest and that will give us time to find out what's going on about Ranger." My mom murmured something I couldn't hear and then felt a sharp poke on my arm. Bobby reached up and wiped my tears and gave me a kiss on the cheek. He whispered, "Steph, get some rest and we'll all be here when you wake up. Don't fight it, just relax and let it happen." That's the last thing I remember.