I still don't own anything and I'm not making any money. Thanks again to Haleigh and Harmne for proofreading for me, you ladies make a world of difference! And thank you all for reading… please enjoy!

What Happens in Vegas

Chapter 21

I was about to protest but cut myself off with a yawn. Tank was right. I needed to get some sleep. Being strong was physically and emotionally draining. And I needed to stay strong for Ranger.

"Okay," I agreed. "But only if you promise to come get me."

"I promise. Now get going."

I didn't need much more convincing before I headed to the elevator and keyed my way to the seventh floor.

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I was good until I made it into the bedroom. I'd walked straight through the apartment, planning to change into a pair of sweats before calling Ella for my snack. It wasn't until I unconsciously grabbed one of Ranger's hoodies that I broke into tears and sank to the closet floor, hugging it to my chest.

Trying to stop myself, I pulled in a deep, shuddering breath and caught a hint of Bulgari. That did me in. The emotions I'd been trying to control since I'd heard Ranger was taken finally took over.

I cried until my head hurt and still couldn't stop. The only thing I could do was bury my face deeper in the soft, black fabric of Ranger's sweatshirt and wish it were on his chest, rather than the closet floor.

I don't know how long I stayed like that, I didn't care. I lost all track of time until I sensed someone sink to the floor beside me and felt a hand run gently over my shoulder.

"Poor dear," I heard, causing me to lift my head.

"Ella?" I choked.

"I'm here," she said, helping me into a sitting position and cradling me against her like a child.

She let me cry, holding me to her, until I'd calmed to the occasional hiccough.

"How'd you know?" I asked when I finally pulled away. I wasn't ready to talk about why I was crying yet.

"Tank called to ask how you were when I brought you a snack. He was going to come and check on you when I said you hadn't called me, but I told him I'd take care of it."

"Thank you," I said. I didn't want Tank to see the shape I was in.

"You're very welcome, dear. Now, you needed something to eat?"

"I don't think I'm hungry any more."

My stomach had different ideas and let out another low rumble before Ella gave me a small smile.

"I have a fresh chocolate cake in my apartment. Why don't you come down and try a piece."

"You sure? I'm not going to be good company."

"That's all right. Louis is helping the boys, so I'm all on my own tonight."

oOoOoOoOo

I'd never been in Ella's apartment, but as soon as I set foot inside I felt a calm wash over me. It was warm and homey. Just what I needed to soothe my raw nerves until I had Ranger to soothe them for me.

"Make yourself at home while I get us some cake. Then we can talk or relax. Whatever you want."

Ella disappeared towards the kitchen and I began wandering around trying to distract myself. On the table by the couch I found a collection of pictures and sat down to check them out. In one, two young men were holding each other in a head-lock. There was a picture of one of them in an army uniform and a picture of the other on his wedding day. Beside that, was a picture of a smiling baby.

"Is this your family?" I asked when I heard Ella come back.

She handed me the most delicious looking slice of cake I'd ever laid eyes on before answering. "Yes, those are my boys, Louie and Ted. Louie went into the Army like his father. Ted's married and works for RangeMan Boston. The little angel beside him is my very first grandchild."

"She's adorable," I said.

We chatted like this while we ate, but eventually Ella took my empty plate off to the kitchen and I was filled with a sense of dread. I'd come down here for a snack and didn't want to leave. I didn't want to go back to the empty apartment where I'd be bombarded with Ranger form every direction.

"It will help to talk," Ella said, coming and sitting beside me again.

I've never been a big fan of talking about my feelings. I've always preferred to bottle them up or just let things explode. But Ella's calm presence had me confessing before I realized what I was doing.

"I just feel so lost. I wanted to be strong, to be the kind of woman that could handle Ranger's life."

"And you have been."

"No I wasn't. I broke down and cried. I gave in to useless emotions."

"Not crying isn't what makes you strong. I learned that lesson a long time ago. Louis was in the Special Forces before he got hurt and had to retire. I cried every time he left on another mission."

"I don't understand," I said.

"You love a man who leads a dangerous life," Ella said, stopping to give me a chance to deny her statement. I didn't. I couldn't do it any longer, so she went on. "Being strong means supporting him, helping him and accepting him. Loving him means you worry. It means you hurt when something bad happens. But the love I have with my husband is worth it, and I think the love you and Ranger have is too."

"How do I convince him?" I whispered.

"I think you're going to need time. You need to give Ranger the time to see what's right in front of his face. You may have never noticed, but he's a very stubborn man."

I let out a laugh at that and smiled a bit. "He's not that bad," I defended.

"No, he's not," Ella agreed.

We lapsed into silence after that and a glance at the clock showed it was nearing midnight. I realized Ella probably had to get up early to start taking care of the RangeMen and I felt a wave of guilt wash over me.

"I should go," I said. I still didn't think I wanted to go upstairs again, but I couldn't keep Ella up all night.

"Are you sure you'll be all right, dear?"

"Yes," I said, but I didn't even convince myself.

"Remember, it's okay to need someone to lean on. You're welcome to stay here if you want."

"Really?" I asked before I could stop myself.

"Of course. I think I even have some of your clothes, freshly washed, in the laundry room."

"Ella, you're a saint," I said, before following her to get a pair of my sleep shorts and a tank top to sleep in.

"No, I'm just a woman who's been where you are now. If I can help you through it and see you and Ranger happy, it will be well worth it."

That restarted the waterworks as I followed her to the laundry room, but I wiped the tears away before I accepted my pajamas and followed Ella to her guest room. Someday, I would seriously have to talk to her about adopting me…

oOoOoOoOoOo

'Ranger must have already left for his run and let me sleep,' I thought when I woke up and didn't feel him beside me.

I was rolling towards his side of the bed to grab his pillow before drifting off again when I realized something wasn't right. The sheets were wrong and the smell was wrong and I could hear cooking noises from outside.

Then I remembered what happened. I snapped my eyes open, jumped out of bed and was out of the room in an instant. I found Ella in the kitchen, humming and cooking, but she turned when she heard me enter.

"Good morning, dear. Did you sleep all right?"

"Yes. Have you heard anything?"

"They haven't found him. I was just making breakfast to take to the boys in the control room. They've been working in shifts all night. Why don't you go take a shower and have something to eat before going with me. I put your basket of clothes in your room and brought some of your makeup and bathroom things from upstairs."

"Uh, yeah," I said, unable to think of a better plan. "Thanks for taking care of everything."

"It's what I do best," Ella said with a smile.

I was turning to the bathroom to take a quick shower when I had a thought.

"What about Rex? I didn't feed him last night!"

"I took care of him when I went to get your things. You worry about Ranger right now and let me take care of the rest."

"Thank you," I said again with sincerity and continued on to the bathroom.

I took what may have been the shortest shower in the history of my life before pulling on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and swiping on some mascara.

When I was done, I hurried back out to the kitchen to find Ella still cooking.

"This is the last batch of bacon, so why don't you grab a plate and eat before I load everything up to take to the boys."

The smell in the kitchen alone had my stomach rumbling in anticipation so I broke down and had breakfast instead of rushing straight to the control room.

I ate quickly, so I was done just as Ella was finishing up with her cart.

We took the elevator to the fifth floor and separated as Ella headed towards the break room and I went straight to the control room. It didn't take me long to realize that's where all the guys were.

I heard someone speaking as I got closer to the door, but realized it was a recording when I heard the background noise. Tank was standing on the edge of the group, so I started to ask what was going on when he signaled me to be quiet.

"Lester had another meet early this morning," he whispered. "He says he got something. Listen."

"I don't have all day," I heard Lester's voice say. "Have you heard anything about Ranger Manoso or Blake Harper?"

"Sure have," said a sneering voice that gave me the type of shivers I usually associate with Vinnie.

"Wanna share?"

"Not really. But I could be convinced."

"How much convincing are we talking?"

"Don't know. It's sounding like things could get real dangerous for people snitching about Harper. So I think we're talking at least enough to get me safely out of the state."

"How's that?" I heard Lester ask and guessed he'd handed the guy money. "It's enough to get you out of the country, now talk."

"Looks like you really want this information. I may need some more convincing."

I heard a click that sounded suspiciously like the safety of a gun being removed before Lester's voice was heard again. "Talk."

"Fine, fine. No need to get like that, you can't blame a guy for trying," I heard and could almost picture the guy backing off. "I saw Harper in a bar the other night."

"Which bar?"

"Mick's, down on Sloan. I wouldn't usually talk to the guy, but he owed me some money before he got put away, so I thought I'd go over and start up a business meeting. Bastard was drunk out of his mind though and going on and on about how he was going to get Manoso. Said he was going to take him out, but not before he got to Manoso's woman and had some fun with her."

The guy said all of this like he thought it was funny. It made me sick. It reminded me that Ranger was in Harper's control and had been for an entire night. I couldn't listen to any more.

I walked away from the control room and leaned against a wall before sinking to the floor. I rested my head on my knees and focused on not breaking down right now.

"You okay, Bomber?" I heard as an arm wrapped around my shoulders.

I recognized Lester's voice and turned my head to look at him.

"I will be."

"You know we're not going to let anything happen to you, right?"

"But Ranger…" I'm not sure what I wanted to say so I trailed off.

"Yeah, he got himself into a mess. But think of it this way, when we get him back, you can be the one to give him a hard time about being more aware of his surroundings."

I must have given a little sob in response because Lester pulled me closer and rested my head on his shoulder before rocking us slightly. We stayed like that for a few minutes until the guys came pouring out of the control room. We were on our feet by the time they got to us and Lester got a bunch of back slaps and 'good job man's. It made me wonder what I'd missed.

"You didn't miss that much, Bombshell, and it's nothing definite. The guy just heard some more of Harper's drunken ramblings. Heard him talking about having the perfect place to take Ranger that was outside the city and where we, 'the goons', couldn't find him, but he could still keep his eye on you."

"So we know he's close."

"And we know he's been planning this. It sounded like he was proud of his plan, so probably he won't change it easily either. I doubt he remembers blabbing to our snitch."

"That's good?"

"Yeah, that's good. Now we're going to try to figure out what the plan was and force him into doing things that weren't in it."

But six hours later, we weren't any closer to figuring out Harpers plan and we hadn't found Ranger. I was about ready to go crazy, I felt so helpless. We weren't getting anywhere.

The guys who had gone to Pennsylvania to check out the prison Harper had stayed in there hadn't had any luck. They'd talked to the warden about the chances that Harper had gotten the sodium thiopental he'd used on Ranger and the guys while there, but hadn't had much luck with that either. Inventory records showed that the prison was one vial of the drug short, but the warden's response was 'stuff happens and things go missing.' He'd been of the opinion that Harper was in no shape to be stealing drugs or finding accomplices during his stay there.

Tank had cursed a blue streak when he heard that report. He'd also decided that if that was still our only lead by morning, he'd go and talk to the Warden himself. By the look on his face, I wouldn't have wanted to be the warden if Tank found out anything new.

We'd also refocused our physical search. Before, we'd been searching the city of Trenton. From the information Lester had gotten, though, it sounded like Harper was holding Ranger outside of the city, but close. We'd started a search for any residencies listed to Harper or any family members or friends within a fifty mile radius. So far we hadn't had any luck.

By dinner time, it was obvious I wasn't the only one beyond frustrated. We had nothing. Tank had decided to move up his deadline and go to PA tonight. He was taking Bobby and Junior. I was still begging to go along when Cal walked into the room where they were getting suited up.

"Uh, a package just arrived for Bomber. We scanned it for bombs but it's clean. You wanna come check it out?" He addressed all of this to Tank and I almost got angry over it. I just didn't have the energy any more though. So, I followed Tank and the guys to the break-room where a nondescript brown box was sitting on the table.

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A/N: Thanks for reading, please review! I love getting feedback and hearing what you think…