A/N: Just a few more chapters, I think, to wrap this story up. Thanks to everyone who has been reading and reviewing! This was my first attempt at writing a fanfic, and you made it much less intimidating than I thought it would be! Thank you, thank you, thank you! ;)

Chapter 19

Ranger's POV

I slid out of bed, smiling when I heard Steph's low moans of complaint. I moved my pillow over into the spot I had just vacated and watched her wrap herself around it. The thought that that pillow could be my body made me rock hard, but I couldn't climb back in with her right now. There was a situation in Montana that needed my attention first.

I pulled on my t-shirt, cargos, and boots, shuffling into the bathroom to splash some water on my face and brush my teeth. I rearmed myself with several weapons and then walked back into the bedroom to give Steph a kiss goodbye.

Somehow, in the five minutes since I had vacated the bed, she had managed to get herself completely tangled in the sheets, her wild curly hair flowing everywhere. I smiled and shook my head. She was a whirlwind; that was for sure. Sweeping in and completely turning everything upside down. At least that's what she'd done to me, to my life. Everything I thought I'd wanted had gone out the window when I started working with her. I leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.

She moaned, "Mmmm, Carlos?" My heart swelled. I was glad she was back to Carlos instead of Ranger.

"Yeah, Babe?" I whispered back.

"Don't get shot."

I smirked. "Don't go crazy, Babe."

"And Carlos?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you try not to kill Joe?"

I felt every muscle in my body tense. No. I absolutely would not guarantee that that fucker was making it back to Trenton alive. No way. No how. "Why, Babe?"

She let out a soft breath, only half awake. "I don't want you to kill for me again."

"I'd do anything for you. You know that. Now go back to sleep." I pulled the covers back up around her, smoothing them out and tucking her in. She let out a contented sigh and lay still.

Satisfied that she was comfortable and staying put, I took the stairs down to five. The rest of the team was assembled, ready to go. As the only member of the Core Team remaining behind, Lester had full authority. He was standing with the team, waiting for any last minute instructions.

I nodded at the team. "Everyone ready?"

The guys each held up a duffle bag and nodded wordlessly. I could see that they were also suited up- Kevlar, several guns, knives, and a full utility belt each.

Tank spoke up. "Hal loaded all of the equipment you requested into the SUVs."

I nodded. "Load up. I'll be down in a minute."

The guys headed for the stairs, and I turned to Lester. "You're in charge."

He smirked back and rubbed his hands together gleefully. "I've got big plans, man. Big plans. I'm thinkin' lap dancers tonight, a topless pool party tomorrow…"

I punched his arm. "Focus!" I snapped at him.

He narrowed his eyes at me, but I could still see a smile playing around his lips. "Aww, you never let us have any fun!"

I raised an eyebrow at him, and he finally relented.

"Come on, Ranger, you know I've got this. It's not like I've never been in charge before. Go get the fucking cop and forget about RangeMan."

"I'm not worried about RangeMan."

Now it was Lester's turn to raise an eyebrow at me. "Then what are you worried about?" he asked, confused.

"Stephanie. Listen to me, Lester. If anything happens to her while I'm gone, I will hold you personally responsible." I watched as he gulped and nodded. I pinned him with a glare. "Behave." I ordered, and then I followed the team down the stairs and into the basement.

R&S R&S R&S R&S R&S

Lester's POV

After Ranger and the guys left, I made a final round on the control room floor. It was nearing 2200 hours, and it had been a long day. Vince was on monitor duty, and I walked over to him. "Stephanie is not to leave the building. If she needs to go anywhere, let me know, and I'll take her."

He nodded his understanding, looking nervous. I knew why. Steph wasn't exactly a play by the rules kind of girl. She had been known to stun gun a RangeMan or two to get out of the building when she was on lockdown. I was just hoping for all of our sakes that she was planning on staying put until the team got back from Montana.

I jogged down to my apartment on four and collapsed into bed. I needed to be up in time to workout and then run the Morning Meeting. If there was any chance at all of that happening, I needed to go to bed. Now.

R&S R&S R&S R&S

Ranger's POV

The plane touched down in Montana, and we stepped out, headed towards a couple of beat-up pick-up trucks that we had waiting for us at the airport. They were filled with camouflage and bright orange hunting clothes as well as rifles. We had researched the area well and found that that section of woods was primarily used by hunters. There was only one road into the cabin, and it would look a lot less suspicious if Yoman came across a couple trucks of hunters than if he found several black SUVs filled with SWAT team members.

We drove along the deserted stretch of road, never meeting another vehicle. We pulled in and parked behind the cabin, making sure that our trucks weren't visible from the road. We quickly worked our way through the cabin, clearing one room at a time. It was empty.

The cabin itself was pretty nice for a hunting cabin. It had a large front room that consisted of a kitchen, dining room, family room combination. There was a full bath with running water from an on-site well just down the hall as well as two bedrooms that each held two sets of bunk beds. A set of stairs in the family room led to a second floor loft master bedroom. The whole thing was made of rough hewn wood, and you could tell that many hours had been spent building each section.

Once we had determined that there was no one there, I gave everyone their assignments. Each member of our team had been chosen based on their individual skill sets, so their assignments were no big surprise. The reasons to include Tank were too numerous and obvious to need mentioned. He was my right hand man. Enough said. Ram was our sniper. He set out to look for high ground- the roof, a tree, a hill, whatever he could find. He needed a clear shot of the road out, just in case. Hal was our technology guy. He was in charge of setting up the motion sensors along the road so that we'd know if anyone was coming. Cal was our licensed crime scene tech. He was on hand to preserve the chain of evidence in case we found anything that needed to be turned over to the local police. And Bobby was our medic. He stored his medical equipment in one of the back bedrooms.

Once Ram and Hal had left to complete their individual tasks, Bobby, Tank, Cal, and I put on gloves and began searching the cabin for anything that might be helpful to us or the local PD. Tank gave a signal whistle from one of the back bedrooms, and we all immediately stopped searching our rooms and headed back. He was standing in the middle of the room and had us stop at the door.

I raised an eyebrow at him, silently asking what was going on. Had he found something? Was the room boobytrapped? What was going on?

He leaned down and picked up the large area rug that covered most of the open floor space in the room, exposing a trap door. Bobby let out a low whistle.

I looked up at him. "You check it out yet?" I asked. He shook his head no.

Cal walked over and opened the door. Once it was opened, we could see a set of stairs leading down to a basement. Cal pulled a MagLite off his utility belt and turned it on, headed down the stairs. He did a cursory sweep and came back up.

"It looks like the basement is under the entire house, or at least most of it." He had a grim look on his face. "I think that's going to be my new assigned area to search."

I looked at him. "What did you find?"

He shook his head. "A bedroom, den, and a few other junk rooms. Lots of hunting equipment, but lots of other stuff, too."

I raised an eyebrow, encouraging him to elaborate.

"Sex toys, restraints, a sex swing, magazines, videos." He paused. "The floor is concrete. There's a lot of bloodstains. Could be animal. Could be human. Could be both."

I nodded. "Anything else that would connect them with the crimes the local PD are investigating?"

Cal shrugged. "Possibly. I'll have to go through the rooms pretty thoroughly to see. It's possible that some of the homemade VHS tapes and DVDs hold evidence of things that happened here."

"Bag them all and ship them to the police department. Let them sift through it. That way you can concentrate on everything else that's down there. Look for anything that could have belonged to the missing girls, anything that could have been a murder weapon."

Cal nodded and headed back towards the stairs.

"You gonna need help?" I asked.

Cal nodded, looking relieved.

I looked at Bobby and inclined my head towards the trap door. There was nothing medical for Bobby to do right now. He could play grunt to Cal while Tank and I planned our return flight to Trenton.

The two of them headed down the stairs armed with evidence baggies, swabs, canisters, cameras, and Cal's tool kit.

Lester's POV

I swaggered over to Steph's cubicle and leaned against the entrance. "Hey, Beautiful!"

She looked up and smiled and me. "Hey, Les! What's up?"

"Just wanted to let you know that Ranger checked in. They're stationed at the cabin, waiting for Morelli to show up."

She blew out a breath and nodded. "Thanks for letting me know."

I smiled. "And I was hoping you'd want to join me for lunch."

She perked back up again. "Pino's?" she asked with a hopeful smile.

I grinned and crossed my arms over my chest. "Wherever you want!"

She jumped up and gave me a hug. "Let's go now!"

I shook my head at her enthusiasm and wrapped my arm around her waist. "Let's go!" I echoed.

We rode the elevator down to the lobby and hopped into my Escalade. Stephanie jumped when I turned the key and the radio blasted on.

"I thought I was the only one who listened to rock and heavy metal at deafening levels!" she teased as I turned the volume down just slightly.

KISS blared through the speakers, and Stephanie started dancing in her seat as we both screamed, "I wanna rock and roll all night and party every day!" By the time we got to Pino's, we were both laughing with huge smiles on our faces.

I jumped down out of the SUV and walked around to meet Steph. When I got to her side of the car, I saw her still sitting in her seat. She had her hand pressed to her forehead and a funny look on her face. I opened the door and looked at her, concerned. "What's up, Beautiful?"

She gave me a shaky smile. "I just felt a little funny for a minute there."

I drew my eyebrows together. "Funny how?"

She shook her head. "A little dizzy. I'm probably just hungry." She turned and angled her legs out the door. I held out my hand, and she grabbed it, stepping out of the car.

As soon as her feet hit the ground, I watched her face pale and her eyes flutter closed. Her body went limp, and she started to fall.

"Steph!" I yelled, grabbing her around the waist. "Stephanie!"

She didn't respond at all, and I gathered her up in my arms. Her limbs hung limply, and her head was thrown back over my elbow. My heart was beating at least twice as fast as normal. "Come on, Beautiful!" I begged. "Wake up! Talk to me!"

I looked up at the restaurant and saw several faces pressed against the glass, taking in everything that was happening. A few cops had trickled out into the parking lot. Carl and Big Dog pushed past them and ran over to me.

"What happened?" Carl questioned. He reached over and brushed his hand across Steph's cheek.

I shook my head. "I don't know, man. She didn't get out of the car right away, and when I came around she said she was feeling a little dizzy. She thought she was just hungry."

Big Dog leaned down to his shoulder radio and requested an ambulance. Carl started talking in a low, soothing voice as he stroked Stephanie's hair. "Hey, Steph. Come on, honey, wake up. We've got meatball subs, Sleeping Beauty. Come on!"

Nothing.

Carl opened the rear passenger door of the Escalade and took Steph while I climbed in. Once I was situated, he handed her back, laying her across my lap. I brushed her hair back and tucked a curl behind her ear, and she stirred.

"Carlos?" she asked softly, her eyes still closed.

I let out a deep breath. "He's not here right now, Beautiful. It's Les. Open your eyes for me."

She raised her hand just slightly and whispered, "Carlos, my head hurts."

My heart clenched. Ranger would die if he knew that Steph was calling for him and he wasn't here.

I rubbed her temple gently. "I know, Beautiful. We're gonna get you all checked out."

She opened her eyes then and blinked several times, trying to focus. "Les?" she asked, confused.

She tried to sit up, but I gently pushed her back down. "Stay still, Steph." I coaxed in a quiet voice.

She wrinkled her forehead. "What happened? I thought you promised me Pino's!"

I laughed quietly. "We're in the parking lot right now."

She still looked confused. "Then why are we sitting out here? Let's go eat!" As if to punctuate that thought, her stomach growled in agreement.

Now I was torn. She seemed fine. Did I take her in and let her eat? Or did I insist that she go to the hospital and get checked out? Either way, someone was gonna be pissed at me. If I didn't get her looked over, Ranger would have my ass in a sling. If I deprived Steph of a meatball sub, she would never forgive me. And of course, just at that moment, the ambulance pulled in, complete with lights and siren.

Stephanie glared at me. "That had better not be for me, Les."

When I hesitated, she added "I mean it! I am not going to the hospital right now! I am going to eat lunch!"

I eased out of the SUV, holding her carefully. "Let's just have them check you over, OK? If they don't see anything, we'll go get lunch." I thought that was a fair compromise. Guess who didn't.

She glared. "I swear to God, Les. If I end up in the hospital, I am going to castrate you!"

I winced. "Damn, Beautiful!" I muttered. "That's harsh!"

She stuck her tongue out at me. "I don't think you fully realize how hungry I am."

I nodded. I guess not.

Carl had motioned the ambulance over near our SUV, so I just had to step out and lean forward a little to sit her on the gurney in the back. The EMTs fussed over her, taking her blood pressure, pulse, heart rate, temperature, listening to her lungs and heart, and checking her pupils.

One of them motioned for me to come over. "Everything checks out OK. Ms. Plum's blood pressure is a little low. That could have caused the dizziness, but at this point there's nothing further that we need to do. If she continues to have issues, though, you should have it checked out."

I nodded, and Stephanie stuck her tongue out at me as she hopped down off of the gurney. I watched the color drain from her face as she grabbed the edge of the bed.

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Dizzy again?"

She bit her lip and shook her head no. Liar. "Stephanie…" I said in a warning tone of voice, my arms crossed over my chest.

She blew out a breath. "I'm just hungry! Come on, let's go eat. If I'm still dizzy after I eat, I'll go to St. Francis. Willingly."

I nodded once, and the EMTs had her sign a couple of papers. Grabbing her elbow, I steered her into the restaurant and towards an empty table in the back. We ordered our food, and when it came, she devoured hers so quickly that I thought maybe that had been the cause of all of her problems. She sucked down a second Coke while I finished my lunch, and we got ready to head back to RangeMan.

I stood up and grabbed the bill off of the table, reaching a hand out to Steph. She grabbed it, and I playfully tugged on her hand, pulling her up. I watched as her face paled, and she grabbed frantically for the table or the back of the booth, anything to hold onto. Damn it! Why did Bobby have to be in Montana with Ranger?

I wrapped an arm around her waist just as she swayed forward. I used the other hand to pull a twenty out of my pocket. I tossed the bill and the cash on the counter and helped Stephanie out to the car, not bothering to wait for change.

Her eyes were wide and panicked as I lifted her up into the car. "Why am I so dizzy?" she whispered.

I leaned over and buckled her seat belt. "I don't know, Beautiful, but we're going to find out."

She bit her lip and a few tears leaked out of her eyes. "Are you taking me to St. Francis?"

I leaned against the open SUV door. "Yes. And you promised to go willingly after lunch." I reminded her.

She nodded. "OK." She replied weakly.

I felt a shiver race down my back. Her willingness to go to the ER spurred me on like nothing else. Stephanie never wanted to go to the hospital. If she was actually willing to go, that meant she was in serious pain or scared shitless. Her wide eyes blinked at me. Yep. Scared shitless.

Ranger's POV

My phone vibrated in my pocket, and I reached down to pull it out. 1 new text. Open. At St. Francis with Steph, waiting on test results. Everything's OK. Call when you can. Fuck. I immediately hit the speed dial for Lester's phone, and he answered on the first ring.

"Yo!"

"What the fuck is going on? What are you doing at the ER? Is Stephanie hurt?" The words tumbled out before I could stop them. I shook my head. I sounded like Stephanie. Rambling on and on.

"She's fine, she's fine!" Lester rushed to assure me.

"If she's fine, then why the hell are you at St. Francis?"

Lester sighed. "She's been dizzy all morning. Passed out on me once and just wobbly two more times. A couple of EMTs checked her out at Pino's and couldn't find anything significant. They said if it happened again, I should get her checked out. We ate lunch, and she got dizzy again when we got up to leave. So I brought her in."

I nodded. At least he was taking his job of watching over her seriously. "And?"

"And we're waiting. They took blood and scheduled some other tests. They think maybe she's anemic, but it could just be an inner ear infection or fluid trapped in the ear canal."

I rubbed my forehead. "Let me talk to her."

I could hear Lester pass the phone over and then a wobbly voice asked "Carlos?"

My heart constricted. "Babe! How are you feeling?"

"OK now. When will you be back?" She was scared. I could hear it in her voice.

I scrubbed my hand over my face. "I don't know. We're still waiting for Morelli. He hasn't shown up yet, but we expect him any time now."

She took a deep, shuddering breath. "OK." She whispered.

"It'll be OK, Babe. Whatever it is, we'll deal with it. Les said it's prob'ly an inner ear infection or fluid build-up. Those are both easy to solve. No reason to worry."

"I know." She whispered.

"Let me talk to Les again."

She passed the phone back over, and Les gave me a "Yo," so I'd know he was on the line.

"She sounds terrible. What the hell happened?"

I could hear Lester walking. "I'm in the hall outside her exam room." He said in a lowered voice. "She's scared. She passed out in the parking lot of Pino's. She was out for a good five minutes before she came around. She doesn't know what's going on." He paused. "She came into the ER willingly."

Crap. He knew that would tell me how serious it was. How scared she was. Stephanie never went to the hospital willingly.

Tank motioned at me to get my attention. I looked up, and he gave me the wrap it up signal. "Morelli's on the way in." he mouthed.

"Santos, I've gotta go. Morelli's on his way in." I was just about to hang up, when I heard a voice on the other end say "Ms. Plum! We have your test results here, and I'd like to go over them with you." Shit. Now I wanted to know what was going on with Stephanie.

"Lester!" I barked, making sure he didn't disconnect.

"Yeah?"

"Put your phone on speaker. I wanna hear the results."

"I thought you said Morelli was on his way in?"

"He is. Put the damn phone on speaker. I want to know what's wrong with Stephanie."

I heard the crunch of gravel as Morelli pulled up outside the front of the cabin. Tank raised an eyebrow at me.

I covered the phone. "Steph's in the ER. I'm waiting on test results." I told him in a clipped tone. He straightened his back and nodded once. I knew he understood.

"Ms. Plum, we think your dizziness was caused by several factors. One large factor is your lack of blood and fluids. From what you've told me, you had a large quantity of blood removed from your body just yesterday. Your body has not had time to replace all of that, and you have not been drinking enough fluids to help your body replace it."

I clenched my fists. Damn Morelli!

I moved out of the front room and into the back bedroom so that I was out of the way when the asshole walked in. I couldn't very well tackle him to the floor while I was on the phone with the ER doctor. Well, I could, but I wanted to fully concentrate on what he was saying.

"On top of that, you have a history of low blood pressure. That in and of itself can sometimes cause episodes of vertigo or dizziness."

Tank ordered the men into position, and I heard safetys click off around the room.

"There are many factors at play here, Ms. Plum, but I'd have to say that the one particular factor that probably played the largest role is that ..."

The front door opened, and I heard the men yelling "Down on the ground! Freeze, asshole! Hands where I can see 'em!" There were several loud thuds and the sound of heavy footsteps as one of the teams ran out to secure Morelli's truck.

"…you're pregnant. Congratulations!"

TBC

I think just one chapter left (maybe 2)! Thanks again for all of the encouragement! :)