Six Days Later

The day had finally come when Doctor Nguyen will lift Walker's paralysis and reduce his pain medication. For the last several days Walker's body has healed remarkably well showing everybody that Nguyen's decision was a good one. Hopefully a few weeks from now Walker will be able to go home to be with his family.

Alex sat in a waiting room with Trivette and Sydney by her side hoping Walker will pull through the light coma just fine. With her nerves on edge, Alex decided it was best if Angela stayed with the Carters family till things settled down. Hopefully Alex can bring her daughter to see Walker later tonight.

A hand fell against her shoulder and Alex looked up to see Doctor Nguyen standing in the doorway. Alex quickly stood to her feet where Sydney gently wrapped a hand around her shoulders. Trivette, in a sign of respect took off his cowboy hat.

Nguyen gave them a gentle smile. "Follow me."

And Alex did till they reached Walker's room in ICU. Here Alex could see several nurses situating Walker's body till he was at a slight up angle on the bed. A tear ran down Alex's face as she saw her husband's head slightly rolling from side to side. Because of the paralysis and the heavy medication he barely moved which always got her to worry.

Doctor Nguyen turned to her with a bigger smile on his face. "He's one hell of a fighter. As soon as we started to remove the paralysis he was attempting to move."

"Sounds like Walker." Alex wiped the tears from her face. "Can I see him?"

"Sure." Doctor Nguyen ushered her into the room. "Maybe with you by his side, he will start to settle down."

Alex gave the doctor a nod then slowly made her way to Walker's beside. She took a deep breath as she gently grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze. His head rolled over to face her, his eyes open just a slit. The swelling had gone down tremendously in Walker's face, but he still had bruises around both his eyes and nose. Unfortunately he still had the wires in his mouth and the trachea tube in his throat. Which meant he will not be able to talk for at least another week or two.

"Hey cowboy." Alex gently kissed Walker on the forehead then started to run her hand through his hair. "Can you open your eyes more for me?" When Walker didn't respond Alex started to gently shake his hand. "Cordell, focus." This did get a response from her husband whose eyes fully opened, showing Alex the deep blue color she loved. "Welcome back, cowboy." She held Walker's hand up so he could see it as well. "If you can understand me, squeeze my hand." He immediately did so which got Alex to beam. "Welcome back."

The sound of boots told her that Sydney and Trivette had made their way into Walker's room. Alex turned to them then slowly nodded her head.

A huge smile spread across Trivette's face as he moved to Alex's side. "Hey, buddy." Walker moved his head just enough and Alex could see his attention was now focused on Trivette. "Glad to have you back with us. You gave us a huge scare."

Doctor Nguyen walked over to Walker's left then smiled down at him. "From here on out, you will only be getting better. I see you leaving the hospital in about a week with a nurse." He patted Walker's shoulder. "He will began physical therapy later tonight and we will start weaning him off the trachea starting tomorrow morning." Walker slowly nodded his head. "Got to warn you though, it's been almost thirteen days since you've moved freely. Physical therapy will be rough." Walker's right hand turned and he gave a thumbs up which got everybody to chuckle.

Alex patted Walker's shoulder. "How's the pain right now?" Her husband opened his hand and gently rocked it from side to side. Alex glanced up at Nguyen to see him prepping an iv line. "Doctor Nguyen is going to give you some pain medication." This bit of news got Walker to slowly shake his head no. "Don't worry, it's only to stop the pain."

Sydney moved in front of Trivette so Walker could see her before he fell asleep once again. "Hey, boss." She smiled up at the man in the bed. "Glad to see you're doing good." Walker slowly nodded his head as his eyelids began to droop. "Sleep well, Walker."

Once Walker was in a deep sleep, Alex glanced at Nguyen. "Really? A week?"

Nguyen nodded his head. "He will hopefully be weaned off the trachea tube by then. But like I said, he will need a nurse." He wrote something down on his electronic clipboard then tapped a button. "His lung has mostly healed, he'll need to start cardio to get it back into shape. And he's doing remarkably well with the kidney removal." He smiled at Alex and her friends. "We'll be removing the staples in a few days."

"That is so good to hear." Alex slowly sat down next to her husband. "What about the pain medication?"

"We're slowly weaning him off of that as well. Within a few days, he'll be more awake and coherent." He gave Alex a smile. "Call me if anything happens."

When Nguyen left Trivette sat down next to Alex and shook his head. "Just wish we had Martinez in custody."

Sydney's hand went to her growing stomach. "Since that day I barely have seen Gage." She shook her head. "I hope Walker can start giving Gage some answers."

Trivette reached out and patted her shoulder. "Give Walker some time and he will talk."

Irving, Texas

The raid ended up being a huge bust which caused Gage to fume with anger. He went to his car, threw his Kevlar helmet into the trunk then took out his cell phone. As he leaned against his car he dialed Sydney's number. She answered on the second ring.

"Shorty, how's the boss doing?"

"Doing great. With some coaxing he'll wake up and answer questions." Her voice showed her happiness. "Doctor Nguyen told us he can leave within a week if a nurse is with him."

Gage smiled at the news. "That's excellent to hear." He began to relax and he checked his watch to see it was nearing lunch. "You up for something to eat?"

"Of course I am, Francis. I'm eating for two, remember?"

He had a laugh at this. "Meet you at C.D.'s in about thirty minutes. Gotta finish up here first."

"Anything new?" Sydney asked.

Gage shook his head. "No, the raid was a bust. I'll talk to you about it at C.D.'s. Say hello to everybody there for me. See ya around, Shorty."

He flipped his phone closed then started to take off his bullet proof vest. The weather was just too warm to wear an eight pound piece of equipment longer than he needed to. Once he got it off he threw it into the trunk of his car then pushed the lid closed. With the news about Walker all negativity he felt about the raid left him. He will have to wrap things up quick so he could get lunch and head to the hospital.

Agent Montgomery stepped up to him with a scowl on his face. "Another busted raid. How many of these do we have to go on till we find something of importance?"

"Not too sure." Gage rubbed his face as his brain began to race. "What I'm worried about is the "war" Young mentioned."

"Gangs and mafia don't usually fight with each other." Montgomery shrugged. "We haven't found anything that says they are, just Young telling us so." He checked his watch. "Should get something to eat. Going anywhere?"

"Yeah, having lunch with the wife." This got a huge smile spread across Gage's face. "Any day now and I'll be a father."

Montgomery patted Gage on the shoulder with a smile of his own. "Do you know if it's a boy or girl yet?"

Gage laughed with excitement. "Little boy. Going to name him, Miles Santana Gage."

"Santana, huh?"

"Yeah, my wife is Latin American."

Montgomery nodded his head. "Then Santana is a great name. Me, I have two children, both boys. One is in college the other is going into high school." He patted Gage on the shoulder. "You should get going. I remember when my wife was pregnant. Anything that stopped her from eating made her rather cranky."

Gage chuckled and had to nod his head at the truth. "I hear that!"

After they said their farewells Gage got into his car and was about to drive off when his phone began to ring. He shook his head at the distraction then flipped it open.

"Gage, it's Sam. We got something. Hurry to Vine Street in Irving."

Gage silently cursed to himself as he started to head that way. "How important is this?"

"Very. I think the war has begun."

XXXX

The room was quiet except for the machines by Walker's bed and Alex appreciated the peace

since it gave her time to be alone with her husband. She took hold of his hand, gave it a gentle squeeze then ran it through his hair. Walker's hair has gotten so long in the few weeks since he was admitted that it draped into his eyes. At least she was able to keep his beard trimmed, which wasn't easy thanks to the feeding tube taped to his cheek.

The door slowly opened and Alex turned to see Zeigler standing with his hands in his jean's front pockets. Zeigler was about Walker's height, but he was thin which made him look a lot younger than his sixty years. He looked rather nervous as he cleared his throat.

Alex slowly stood to her feet with a smile on her face. "Come in and have a seat. He'll love to have other visitors."

Zeigler slowly made his way to Walker's beside and took off his cowboy hat. "Alex…" He cleared his throat again. "Maybe I should leave."

"No, it's okay." Alex took hold of Walker's hand and gave it a gentle shake. "Cowboy, you have a visitor." When he didn't respond she shook it again. "Cordell, wake up."

"Look, it's okay." Zeigler took a few steps back towards the door. "I'll come back…" The Ranger's voice trailed off as Walker opened his eyes. "Can he hear me?"

Alex glanced up at her husband to see him staring her in the face. "Walker, Ranger Zeigler is here to visit you." Walker's eyes began to droop which got Alex to gently shake his hand then rub his arm. "Honey, you need to stay awake." Walker squeezed her hand then shifted his head just enough to get a look at Zeigler. "You see Zeigler?" He gave her a thumbs up sign then a slight nod. "Good. How you feeling?" Walker nodded his head yes as his eyes began to droop once again. "Tired?" Again he gave her a yes.

Zeigler slowly sat down and gave Walker a smile. "Hey, Walker. Glad to see you're doing really good." This got a thumbs up from Walker. "Just came in to see how you're doing."

Walker lifted his right hand up which Alex quickly grabbed. However, her husband tried to pull it away. Zeigler took a look at this then inched closer so he could take hold of Walker's hand. As he did this, Alex could see her husband visibly relax. She held back the tears knowing these men carried a common bond. Zeigler and Walker were survivors of a night that killed four SWAT officers. Both should have died, but by a miracle of God they're lives were spared.

As Walker fell asleep once again, Alex turned to Zeigler. "How you feeling?"

"Doing better. Still a bit sore, but my doctor said that I'm healing real nicely." He shook his head. "Just wish I could have done something to prevent what had happened."

Alex shook her head. "What happened is not any of the officer's fault."

"Just wish the Gibson's and Simmons' families thought that way." Zeigler glanced behind him as Samuel Porter came into the room. "Porter." He quickly got to his feet. "What are you doing here?" He quickly shook his head. "Sorry, I meant…"

Porter shook his head. "It's okay." His voice was blurred by his mouth being wired shut. "How is he?"

Alex gave the officer a smile. "Awake and responding. But he just fell asleep."

"Is it okay if I sit in here for awhile?"

"Sure." Alex patted Walker's hand. "You two can stay as long as you need to."

Irving, Texas

The long entrance to the park was completely closed off with several police cars and unmarked vehicles. Gage parked behind a black SUV to see Montgomery and Benny standing next to it. The former agent smiled at Gage then gave him a friendly wave.

Montgomery shook Gage's hand. "Carl Venitarie was found dead. Follow me."

"Venitarie?" Gage racked his brain as to why that name sounded familiar to him. "Oh yeah, I arrested his little brother ten years ago for drug trafficking."

"Yeah, well, big brother got himself into a mess of trouble." Montgomery led Gage down the long driveway till they reached a shelter. Here, Gage could see FBI along with another Texas Ranger, Sergeant Lee Harving. He shook the latter's hand then made his way to a body covered in a white sheet. Blood had already seeped through to stain the once clean linen right where the head and torso would be at. "Thought it was a mob hit till we got a closer look at the body." The agent knelt down and pulled the sheet away. "What do you see, Gage? What's out of place here?"

Gage went to the other side of Venitarie's body then knelt down to get a better look at the deceased man. He could see nothing out of the ordinary outside the gunshot wound to the temple. His head cocked to the right as his eyes caught sight of something on the man's forehead. He bent down to get a better look to see markings where a hat use to sit.

"He was wearing a hat." He put on a pair of rubber gloves then pointed to a strange blood pattern on the man's coat collar. "Might have even worn it when he was killed."

"Got a great eye for detail, but you're missing something more important." Stated Montgomery. "Look at his hands."

Then it clicked. "His jewelry is missing. Mob hits, they usually keep the jewelry on. Easier to identify the body that way." Gage rubbed his hand down his face. "Other than the obvious, what makes you think this was a gang hit?"

Manny stepped up to them, his hands on his hips. "Found another body, just down the street. Could be connected. It's a Latino Kings member."

Gage slowly stood to his full height. "You're right, Jim." He turned to Montgomery. "The war has started." He then shook his head. "Which means Martinez could easily slip away. We need to find him soon." His cell phone chirped in his pocket. "That has to be the wife." He checked the number. "Yep, sure is."

Montgomery gave him a nod. "Go ahead. We got it from here."

"Thanks." Gage smiled then quickly headed for his car as he flipped the phone open. "Hey

Shorty, I got caught up, but I'm on my way now."

Sydney chuckled. "I'll give you twenty minutes, Francis."