Author: Feather (Flightf)

Warnings: Spoilers all the way through Twelve Sharp.

Disclaimers: I own nothing…JE owns it all….I will return everything when I am finished

Rating (K-M) M (for language)

A/N: This was started from a challenge sent by the Twelve Sharp group. 'Ranger in the hospital of any point of view.' This is 9th in a series of around 11. J Thanks to everyone who gave me feedback…it is always appreciated.

Also a very HUGE thank you to Melle who has been acting as my editor extraordinaire. Without her my story would be full of creative grammar and would consist of the never-ending sentence. I think that I am trying to set the record for the most use of "and", "but", "or" and of course just the plain commas in one sentence. MagnificentSin…..I salute you! Thanks for being my second set of eyes. I really appreciate your tough love

The Rangeman office was running on a skeleton work force. There were two men in the control room, watching monitors. One man was positioned at the gate to the garage and another man at the entrance at the front desk. They of course, were the low men on the totem pool; fairly new to the company. They're six of us in the building and we were all wearing grim faces.

I headed to my laundry room; it like everything else in the building was state of the art. I had three of everything. It was time to switch the loads around. I wash and iron all the men's uniforms, and I have found it best to only wash one mans uniforms at a time. I opened the dryer and grabbed a garment. I started to fold the pants and I realized that Carlos's Cargos. My eyes filled with tears.

"Ella, pull yourself together. Now is not the time to get upset. There is work to be done." I said out loud to myself.

My mind drifted as I folded clothes, put the wet clothes in the dryer, and reloaded the washer. Many years ago, we lived next door to the Manoso's. They were a typical family for the neighborhood. Raul went to work at five, came home for lunch at noon and was home for dinner by six. Claudia ran the house; she cooked, cleaned, did laundry and ironed. Her world revolved around her husband and six children.

I thought back to the first time I had met Carlos. He was a scrawny little boy with the most beautiful smile you have ever seen. He was shy child and most boys in the neighborhood bullied him. Louis and I were unable to have children so we became a horary aunt and uncle to the Manoso children. For some reason I became especially close to Carlos.

As a child, Carlos learned to fight to gain respect, and as a teenager he picked the wrong friends. When he was sent to Miami, a little piece of me went with him. I prayed every week that he would grow into a man I could be proud of. After graduation, when he came back to New Jersey to go to college I made sure to send him a care package once a week.

My heart broke the day that he knocked on our door to tell us that he had joined the army. He told us that he needed to become a man and the army would do that. Again, I made sure to send letters and care packages. I wanted to make sure that he knew he was loved and missed. The years he spent in the Rangers were turbulent ones. I never knew where he was or what he was doing. The fact that there wasn't an unformed man at my door was the only good news I had. Three years ago received a letter that is still tucked into my bible. It was from Carlos telling us that he was coming home.

Rangeman was Carlos's baby, watching him build and grow this company has brought me great joy. I am very proud of the man he has become.

As I walked into my apartment I noticed that the message light was blinking. With shaky hands, I picked up the receiver; the fact that they left me a message and didn't try to find me was good news, right? I dialed my code to retrieve the message and Tanks voice boomed out at me.

"Ella, Tank here. The doctors just came and told us that Carlos made it through surgery and they are going to move him into ICU in a few minutes. I am on Bombshell and mini me duty. I will call later with another update."

I let out my breath in a slow and steady stream. My mind went to Tank's name for Julie, mini me. It is amazing how much like her father she is. It just shows how much behavior is genetic. I hope all of this teaches Carlos that you can't protect the ones you love by pushing them away. It is better to live and love for one day than to never love at all. I know that he can be a great father; he already is a type of father for his men. I can only pray that someday he will fill his home with children, his life needs more light.

Stephanie Plum is the sun in Carlos's life. For the past three years I have noticed the slight changes in Carlos. He has become a little more human, and little more like the boy I once knew. About two and half years ago, I started hearing rumors about a little girl from the burg playing with the big boys, they developed into Stephanie being Ranger's women, and finally I heard about how she impressed the boys with her tenacity and most importantly her loyalty. Everybody in the building knew the moment Stephanie moved into the seventh floor apartment. Tank deactivated my key flob to keep me from meeting this woman who had taken my boy's heart. When Carlos gave the order to let her stay that didn't surprise me but I was shocked when he wanted us all to have no contact with her. The morning after he arrived home I was told I could now clean the apartment. I remember asking her if she was Rangers girlfriend and the wistful look in her eyes when I said maybe someday.

I know that those two love each other; I also know that they are made for each other. They already have most of the bases for a good marriage. They have love, trust, a mutual respect for each other, and a healthy dose of lust. Basically the only thing that they need to do is learn to communicate with each other. They both are experts at running away.

I love taking care of the guys and they are family but I am getting to be an old women; I need to have children surrounding me. I need to be able to spoil a child with blue eyes and mocha skin. A toddler with a mop of curls spilling milk everywhere and with one flash of Carlos's devastating smile and your heart melts and your anger slips away. These are the dreams of an old woman, and I know that these are also the dreams that are locked deeply in another two peoples heart.