Dallas, Texas

The waiting room was quite expect for the laughter from Angela as Trivette tickled her. Smiling Alex noticed that everybody's life was getting back together. She began to work on small court cases again, Trivette went back to full duty, and Erica did her best to watch over Angela while Alex was away.

Gage stepped into the waiting room smiling. "Angie, does the tickle monster have you?"

Angela squealed. "Uncle Gage, help me!" She laughed out.

Finally Trivette stopped tickling and sat down on the floor. "What's up Gage?"

The young man sighed. "Just working as hard as I can." He blew through his lips as he sat down. "You know the case Syd and I was working on when this happened to Walker." Trivette nodded. "It might be connected."

Quickly Trivette got up. "What do you mean?"

Gage took a deep breath. "One of the suspects talked about how his friend had almost killed a man. The details he was saying no one else will know about." He laced his hands then looked at Alex. She nodded her head knowing what he might say will be hard for her to take. "The guy told me that his friend was going to rape a woman when a officer came in to help. Another man, possibly a partner quickly slipped away, got a rock and threw it at the officer. Then his friend took the rock and began to hit the man repeatedly in the face." He sighed heavily. "That is when the twins took over."

Alex wiped the tears from her eyes. "Walker, didn't even see it coming."

Trivette rubbed the nape of his neck. "Where is this man at right now?"

"Lock-up at the County." He took a deep breath. "He gave us the names of the men in the attack for a lighter sentence. Unfortunately we are unable to get a search warrant until later on tonight."

Erika picked up Angela then went to Alex. "I'm going to take her to the game room in the children's wing. We'll be back in about an hour."

Nodding Alex gave Angela a kiss on the cheek. "You have fun Angie."

Angie smiled. "I always have fun." She blew her mom a kiss. "Love you mommy."

"Love you too." Alex sighed heavily. "Hopefully this man who did this to Walker will get the maximum sentence for attempted murder of an officer."

"I hope so too." Trivette turned to the hall as a doctor came in. "Doctor Miller how's everything going?"

Doctor Miller smiled. "I think everything here on out should be getting better. I believe the last surgery to his jaw was the final one until we removed the wires and the tubes and there is no signs of any more clots in his brain. His strength should be getting stronger from here on out. But I still would like for him to stay at the hospital for at least another month, maybe forty days."

"You mean he can go home in just a month?" She said in bewilderment not believing what she just heard. "A month from now?" She had to repeat it, just to make sure.

"Yes, if everything goes fine he should be able to. Hopefully by then he will also be weaned off the feeding tube or close to it. As well as the trachea tube, which tomorrow I'm going to put in a smaller one and began the first phases of decannulization." He sighed heavily. "But he has been dependent on both for over a month it could be hard to do." He shook his head, amazement on his face. "I believe it's a miracle that he has made it this far."

"Thank you doctor." Alex grinned. "I do believe it is miracle, Doctor Miller. I remember what you told me the first time we came here and I honestly thought Walker was going to die." She began to cry. "And I thank you for keeping him alive."

Doctor Miller seemed humbled. "Thank you." He sighed. "You go and see Walker, he's sort of awake right now. He's doing amazingly well."

Alex shook the older man's hand. "Thank you again, sir."

In Walker's room Alex sat by her husbands bed looking around at the many photos they had put on the walls and tables. She slowly picked one up almost crying when she saw how healthy her husband had looked. The photo was of the whole family and she can tell that Walker loved life just by looking at his eyes.

Glancing at him in the photo, she took a look at him now and Alex can tell that his facial appearances has definitely changed. His face seemed to be thinner now, his cheekbones, even through his swollen cheeks can now be visibly seen. She can tell that he has lost a lot of weight since being admitted by glancing at his arms and chest. There was also his right eye which was a little droopy because of the orbit being shattered. Then of course his nose which remarkably had only changed slightly, but he may have breathing problems that she doesn't know about. It was still rather swollen which left him having the trachea tube still in his throat. She glanced at the photo one more time then placed it down on the table.

She squeezed his hand. "Hey, honey." Walker slowly squeezed her hand. "So, you're awake?"

Walker squeezed her hand again. "Alex..." He grimaced as he mouthed the words, his voice almost nonexistent. "Thirsty." Quickly she got the stick sponge then started to rub it slowly across his lips. Very gradually he raised his hand moaning. As he talked the tube softly hissed, a noise Alex got familiar with over the weeks. "Hurts."

"It's necessary Walker since your lips are so chapped." She then reached for the bigger sponge and soaked it with water. "This is what your really wanting." She squeezed the sponge letting water run into Walker's mouth through his slightly open lips. "Feel good?"

"Yeah." Walker mouthed then swallowed hard. "Thank you."

Alex smiled. "Your welcome honey." She looked at his swollen face. "Doctor Miller told me you can go home in month or so if your strong enough." She glanced down to his abdomen where a bulge in the sheet told her about the feeding tube. Doctor Miller wanted to insert it through his nose, however through surgery and the swelling they had to surgical place it in his abdomen. "You will have to get weaned off the feeding and trachea tube. And if not, you know I'll be able to help you out."

Walker slowly moved his hand to his stomach. "That's…hurt." He mouthed, his voice just a hush. He tried to smile, but it quickly was replaced by a grimace of pain. "When?"

"I believe they are going to start in a couple of days." She patted Walker's shoulder. "I heard some good news." Walker just rolled his eyes over to her. "You should no longer have any more major surgeries."

He squeezed her hand stronger then he has ever before. "That's…" He winced with pain. "Great."

She smiled and gave him a light kiss on the forehead. "I know it is."

Texas was chilly as John and Michael made their way down the highway to Methodist Hospital. Because of traveling through military they managed to get a jeep for transportation. It was a decent vehicle, the only problem was the heater didn't work. This bothered Michael as he sat in the passenger seat rubbing his hands together.

"How much longer?" He said through chattering teeth.

John laughed. "Just down the road here." He pointed to a tall building appearing on the horizon. "See, it's only a few minutes from where we are."

"What do you think they will say about this?"

"I don't know Michael." John turned to his brother shaking his head in disbelief. "Who would have ever thought that the man we saved could be our father."

Michael took out the picture of Ranger Walker. "If you look at this photo he does sort of look like us. But why would he not try to find us? Do you think he knew?"

"I don't know." John parked then leisurely got out. "Let's see what Ranger Walker has to say."

Once inside the hospital John went to the nurses station then asked her where Ranger Walker's room was located. After she told him that he was in the rehabilitation ward the brothers began to make their way down the hall. John's nerves were on high which was unusual for him. He was usually so calm, however right now all he could think about is the possibility that his father was a man who at one time was a complete stranger to him.

Reaching the waiting room John could see two young Rangers sitting in chairs talking to each other. Michael's and his boots echoed down the hall making the two Rangers glance up. Quickly the man, a younger male with dirty blonde hair got up to greet them.

He smiled. "You two must be John Norris and Michael Garrison."

John nodded with a grin of his own. "Yes, sir."

"Let me get Alex and Trivette real quick."

While waiting John took out the picture shaking his head in disbelief, still not able to comprehend the news. He will definitely have to ask to get blood work done to make one hundred percent certain. Taking a deep breath he looked up to see Alex Cahill-Walker and Ranger Trivette coming up to them. Quickly he hid the photo in his uniform's breast pocket then stood at attention, Michael doing the same.

Ranger Trivette smiled. "At ease gentleman." He took a deep breath then shook his head. "I thought you two were in Bosnia and Germany."

Michael cleared his throat. "Family emergency, sir." He took a very deep breath while looking at John. "Sir, we need to tell you something and I prefer that you two were sitting down." When the Ranger and the lady sat down Michael and John pulled chairs in front of them. Michael gestured at John for the picture. "Our fraternal mother passed away and she gave us this." He handed the photo to Ranger Trivette. "That's our father, at least that's what she says."

Alex shook her head in disbelief. "Walker, has no kids. If he did then he surely would of told one of us."

John nodded. "We believe that blood work can help solve this mystery." He turned to Ranger Trivette. "That is if we can get permission..."

"I'll get Doctor Miller and see what he can do." Trivette rubbed the nape of his neck. "I know you two look like him, but it isn't like Walker to not help out with something this big."

"Jimmy's right." Alex slowly stood up and took a deep breath. "Would you like to see him? It's still visiting hours."

"Yes, ma'am." John said getting up and following her down a hall.

As they stepped into the room John couldn't help but to see a big difference in the room itself from their last visit. It was decorated with colored pictures, cards, and a couple of photos which adorned the walls and tables. Looking at the bed John's breath caught in his throat when he saw how well the man appeared. Even though the man's face was still swollen he can now see that the many surgeries had indeed done their job . John still can remember very vividly the first time he saw Walker and shook his head in disbelief. Who would have ever thought this man would live and actually look rather normal after the vicious blows to his head.

Ranger Walker's eyes slowly opened. "Who..." He grimaced in pain. "Who…you two?" His voice was just a hush, almost as though he was just mouthing the words and John couldn't quite understand him.

Trivette patted Walker's shoulder. "These are the men who saved you."

Walker's eyes looked the two young men up and down then mouthed, "Marines?"

Alex grinned from ear to ear. "Yes, honey they are." She squeezed his hand then turned to Trivette. "Well, long term memory hasn't been lost."

"Yeah." He smiled then turned to the young men while patting Walker's leg. "You know about Walker's history as a Marine?"

Michael nodded. "Yes, sir. His like a legend in the Corp."

Just then Doctor Miller came walking in smiling. "Well, Walker good to see you awake." He turned to the young men and his smile grew bigger. "You two must be the gentleman that saved his life."

John was humbled. "All in the line of duty. sir."

Taking a deep breath Trivette motioned for Doctor Miller to go to the hall along with the young men. Once out there he took a very deep breath then turned to Walker's room.

"These men, Doctor Miller think that Walker is their father. Is there anyway we can get blood work?"

Doctor Miller nodded his head a little confused. "Sure, but we won't get the results back probably until another day or so."

"Okay." Trivette bit his lower lip not really wanting to evade Walker's privacy, but knew he had no choice. "Doctor, you think I should tell Walker?"

"His body is still in recovery mode. I honestly don't know how well he will take this news." Doctor Miller looked at Walker then back at the men. "I prefer that you wait till he is stronger."