Stephanie's POV

I slowly opened my eyes. The white room and ceiling tiles. Antiseptic smell. Beeping. Tubes. Blood? Gross. Crap. Again?

I looked over and saw the man sleeping in the chair next to me. I had never seen him look this bad. A word came to mind that I thought I would never associate with him, 'frail'. He looked like his demons had won.

I tried to speak but my mouth was too dry. I reached for the cup of ice on my tray with my badaged hand and awkwardly grabbed a piece and with shaky hands brought it to my mouth.

I looked at the man in the chair that I had idolized and loved for so long. The super hero that I had hoped would whisk me away and make all my dreams come true one day. All that time to find that he's just a broken man and I can't fix him and maybe nobody can.

"Ranger," I whispered. He opened his eyes. I looked at him a long time. "Go home. It's over between us. My love deserves more respect than you can give me. I won't forget all that you did for me over these years." He nodded and kissed me on the forehead.

When I woke up again Lester was there. He fed me some ice.

"I'm sorry Steph. I had no idea that we would hurt you so bad."

"Did you both plan your whole seduction thing before he left for the mission?" Nothing. "So, I was in training for the both of you?"

Nothing. Did he call you that night so we could have a three way and seal the deal?" He turned his eyes away from me.

"You both have so little respect for me you couldn't give me a choice? You thought so little of me that you would use me and treat me like a shared mistress? Your whore? I deserve better than that. For me love does come with at least trust. I gave you and him more than that. I'm just a girl from the Burg. I may not live by the Burg standard but, I'm not the kind of girl you were planning for. Ranger should have known. I thought he knew my heart."

"I love you and if you were mine alone, you would have it. Everything you want", he said.

"I forgive you, but I have to say goodbye to you too. You betrayed my trust. Thank you for everything you did for me in the past Les." Tears were rolling down his handsome face as he took my hand and kissed it.

"I really did want a future with you Steph. I'm so sorry. There is going to be a great big hole in the hearts of a bunch of tough guys starting today Beautiful." He slowly got up to leave.

The next time I opened my eyes a warm smile and green eyes greeted me and I knew that here was my future. Brian took my hand and kissed me gently. "You're going to get well and you are going to come home with me and we are going to have the dream, the romance, the someday, and anything else you want. You are going to fly whenever you want to fly my wonder girl. I was blessed to have met you."

…..

We were free falling at 11,000 feet and Brian grabbed my hand and shoved a great big diamond on my finger. "My love comes with this ring and all this comes with it too." He motioned up and down his body with his finger with a big grin on his face. "I mean to Liberate you and this will be my best mission. You can answer me when we get to the ground. You have a few minutes to think about it." Then he dove and flew away.

I put my arms out and yelled, "Woohoo!" as I pulled my chute.

`The End`

I can kill a primary character but, I have a hard time doing it. My fingers won't hardly type it. Stay tuned. As you can see now the real story for both of the endings I wrote is about Stephanie's struggles with love and her strict Burg upbringing. The differences in the stories is how she handles it. Bring on your thoughts!

Exercise-Adrenaline Rush coming up next. Even more angst, smut, hot Merry Men and Ranger!