Here's chapter 13!

I'm sorry that it's taken me this long to update. I've battled with writer's block and I didn't want to publish a total piece of.. I hope you like this one. Just a hint to you, Ranger is Ranger with Charlotte but Carlos with Stephanie. If you know what I mean, they're (S & C) two totally different persons. Kinda.. Confusing I know

Thank you for your reviews! I'm trying to answer to them all but sometime's I just don't have the time to do that. I try to answer to the reviews that are more than just a few words.

Not mine, not making money.

I woke up when the suns rays hit my face. I slowly opened my eyes and smiled to the fact that Carlos was still in bed with me. The digital watch on my bedside table said that it was almost eight o'clock. I smiled at the sensation of his strong arms around me and snuggled closer. He sighed and hugged me closer. We stayed silent, enjoying the fact that we were together after many years.

I couldn't really say why but I felt uneasy. After I had left him he had been in my thoughts all l the time. Still I had to rely to myself to keep myself alive, and even though I laid in my own bed with my own batman I couldn't completely relax. I listened to every sound, glancing around the room. I could feel that Carlos was awake but didn't say anything to me. Fine by me, I didn't want to talk to him either.

I wiggled my way out of his strong hold and with a death grip on my gun I made my way out of the room with one of my crutches and checked the apartment. Nobody there. I made my way to the hall and checked Adam's apartment. He was still sound asleep and I made my way back to my apartment. Ranger was leaning on the bedroom door frame, watching me as I laid the gun down on the table in the middle of my own hall. He looked at me in disbelief, probably wondering about me touching a gun without wincing and I decided to ignore him. There was so much that he didn't know and I knew that he wouldn't like them at all. All the time's I had been injured, all the close calls. At this hour I wasn't in the mood to start explaining the past year or so to him. I made my way to the kitchen, took a tuna sandwich out of the fridge. I ate it leaning against the counter while Ranger walked over to the kitchen and took an apple out of the bowl and sat down and ate it. Well stared at me and occasionally took a bite of the apple. I started to feel nervous about his stare. I decided that I needed to talk to him, even though I didn't want to.

"I think it you should follow me today." I said to him and took a water bottle out of the fridge. "I don't think it wise for you to start wandering around the house. You wouldn't be safe."

"I wouldn't be safe? " he asked me in disbelief and walked over to me, stopping when there wasn't room for a hair in between us. "You're the one with crutches and head collar, and you're worried that I wont be safe?"

"Yes." I said to him and stared him blankly in his eyes. I saw that he was bewildered and confused my behaving. I saw anger, pain, doubt and guilt flash in his eyes. "Now would you mind moving, I need... we need to be going."

He didn't move for a while. I sighed and ducked underneath his arms. I grabbed my crutches and walked over to the closet and chose a typical outfit, a pair of black pants and a green t-shirt. I walked out and Ranger stepped out of the bedroom, dressed in the same clothes as he had yesterday. I took the gun from the table and made my way out of the apartment.

"Normally I would head down to the gym, but now I can't with this stupid cast. So instead we're going to head to the basement." I said to Ranger as I made my way down the stairs. The crutches or the cast didn't slow me down, I was quickly down the stairs. I looked back at him while we walked over to the down stairs kitchen.

"Shouldn't you take it more carefully?" he asked me as I hopped down the stairs to the basement. He looked worried and like he was ready to catch me if I fell. I laughed at the irony.

"I've done this a million times, Ranger." I said when we emerged in the computer room. "It's been a long time since we last saw each other. I've had crutches five or six times here in the UK."

I saw his eyes widen in surprise, his jaw tighten and anger and guilt was visible in his eyes. I didn't know whether it was because of what I said or what he saw. I glanced at him while we walked over to the monitoring area. I smiled and hugged Andy who was sitting, watching the monitors. He looked happy to see me. He was one of my finest computer technicals and was in his early twenties. He was one of Europe's leading hackers as well. He looked like a geek, and was one. Even on his free time you could find him here with the computers.

"Hey Andy. Where are the others?"

"Adam's still asleep, no surprise there, Cindy's in her apartment, working on a undercover thing and I think the hit team is in western London, bringing in a half-million pound skip. Oh, and Michelle is with Cindy as well. Your looking good, feel that way too?" he asked when he returned to the monitors.

"I'm feeling fine, just a little sore. I think we'll head for Cindy's, I want to introduce everybody to Ranger here." I answered and pointed to Ranger who was standing behind me.

"So you're Ranger?" Andy asked and looked up in curiosity. "I have heard a lot about you."

Ranger shook his hand and watched the slim man in front of him.

"This here's Andy, our data specialist." I said to Ranger as I knew he wondered what a man like Andy could do. I smiled at Andy and led our way to the second floor. Ranger was following me like a lost puppy. The Charlotte part of me was visible today, Stephanie had been left back in the bed. I sensed that Ranger was confused with the sudden change in my personality. A little voice in my head told me to tell him but I wasn't ready for that yet. Telling him meant getting hurt again, crying and showing other sides of weakness. I didn't want to do that in front of Ranger again. I had bared my soul to him and he had hurt me. I didn't want to go through that again.

Michelle was indeed in Cindy's apartment. I remembered vaguely that she would go undercover soon, it was part of catching Petrucha. I made my way to the make-up room, leaning against the door frame. Michelle was unrecognizable and they both looked up when we appeared. I saw Michelle lower her gun when she recognized us. Pure anger flashed in her eyes.

"So you're Ranger?" she snapped and got up, scaring Cindy. She marched across the room, pointing her finger at Ranger. I could see that he found this amusing. Not for long.

"Yes. You must be Michelle." he said, ever so politely.

"Don't even try that with me!" Michelle said to him and I could see that Ranger was thinking over his choices. "I know you! I know you're an bloody bastard who broke her heart! I know, so don't try anything or I'll hunt your down and hurt you so bad that you wont know what hit your sorry ass!"

A complete silence filled the room as Michelle pointed her finger one more time at Ranger and then hugged me. Cindy was looking at the scene, slightly shaking her head. Then she returned to washing her brushes. This was completely normal for Michelle. Ranger was standing slightly behind me starring at the small but very dangerous woman hugging me.

"How are you?" she said to me still hugging me.

"I'm fine" I answered to her, hugging her awkwardly back. The collar made this usual greeting very uncomfortable. "What's been happening?"

"Well... McAddams wants you to call him, then there's three huge open cases, as well with the Nicholson matter. Then there's a couple of searches they want you to do..."

"How many?" I asked her and grimaced slightly. I knew what her "a couple" meant.

"Well... If you count them all it would be... about 37."

"37 searches? Well, I'll try to run them today or tomorrow..." I said and shifted my weight. I was beginning to feel tired. I glanced at Ranger, who was still looking at us. "Anyways, I just wanted to say hey and introduce Ranger properly to you all. But I think it's wisest if we talk tomorrow as I have 37 searches to do. I wonder what the heck everybody does these day's." I said, shaking my head as I looked out. Another great day that had ended with rain. Got to love the weather here.

"Well.. You're the best searcher, Char. And we other's want to find that Petrucha idiot." Michelle said to me as she returned to the chair and let Cindy do her thing.

"How's it going?" I asked as I could feel Ranger tense behind me. Michelle looked tired.

"Well... We have a lead and I'm going undercover to see if I can find anything. But so far we don't have anything concrete to build on. Sorry."

"Don't be sorry. I know you're doing your best. And please get some rest, you look like a zombie." I answered to her and then we said our goodbyes. The walk back up to my apartment was silent as I hopped on and Ranger followed behind me. I knew this was puzzling to him, he was observing and absorbing the information he gathered. I made my way to the office in my apartment and Ranger followed. He stopped and stared at the wall with the photos. I could guess which photo he was looking at. The one in the middle, the one with us laughing. I sat down, focused on Ranger in front of me and my desk.

"You kept this picture?" he asked and I could almost swear his voice broke a little in the end. I thought about what to say to him.

"Yes." I said after a while. He was still looking at the picture. Stephanie was emerging from the bedroom but Charlotte refused to let her into the room. Ranger walked towards the picture and touched the picture frame with his fingers, looking almost longingly at it.

"I kept it too... It's on my bedside table. It's the first thing I look at in the morning and the last thing I see before I fall asleep."

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