The Rangers were exhausted. It was already past ten at night and they'd been up since dawn and out in the rain looking for the escaped convict. They'd followed several false trails but nothing ever came of them. They had dogs out, choppers and men on foot. Nothing. Sheriff Mike had called off the search due to how late it was and that they could pass this person in the night without ever seeing them, not to mention that everyone was soaked and cold. One of his deputies had twisted his ankle pretty good and he was off to the hospital to have him looked at. The last thing the Rangers had asked him was for him to check in on Gunny since they couldn't them selves tonight.

Hot showers, pain killers in the form of Vitamin 'I' as they liked to call it and the warmth of the fires with hot soup in front of them, the last thing they expected was to get a phone call from Mike. It was about eleven thirty and several of the rangers had already headed to bed. Cody had answered the phone when it rang. "High Mountain Rangers, Cody speaking."

"Cody, it's Mike. Is Matt there?" he asked, sounding a bit 'off'.

Cody's brow furrowed a little, "Yeah. I think he just headed to bed. Can I take a message or do you need him specifically?"

Mike was quiet for a moment. "I need to talk to Matt directly." He said carefully.

Cody knew something was up and his fears were that something had gone wrong with Crane while they'd been away. But she had been reported on the mend when they'd called the doctor later that morning to find out she'd been awake and eating, reading the paper and looking generally bored. "All right, hold on a minute and let me get him." He put the phone call on hold and got up, jogging to the back of the station to the CO's quarters.

He knocked softly and within moments, Matt opened the door. "Yeah?" he said, half awake.

Cody's face must have told him something was up because Matt came fully awake when Cody spoke. "Sheriff Mike's on the phone. He's asked to speak directly to you."

Matt blinked and nodded, shutting the door as he grabbed a bathrobe to throw over his sweatpants. He came out the door and shut it carefully behind him. He headed downstairs and took the call off hold and answered, "This is Matt."

Matt listened for a minute and sat down carefully. The rest of the team that was still up looked on, worried at some of the things Matt was responding with.

"How bad?" Matt was silent for a moment, "I see." He said. "The search called off then?" came a reply to something said. "All right. Keep us updated." He said as he hung up the phone. He sat there for a long moment, not sure what to say to the others.

Finally Izzy spoke up, "Well? What did Mike want?" he asked

Matt looked at the three still awake. "Seems we were busy today for no reason other than to keep everyone distracted. The serial killer was killed and disposed of so we'd still be looking for him. Apparently Max has been around for these past four weeks under our noses and we didn't have a clue. He got into the hospital tonight and went after Gunny."

Mark and Cody were both suddenly standing, "What?!" Izzy said from where he was sitting, leaning forward in his chair.

Matt rubbed his eyes, "He was there to kill her. In turn, she ended up somehow killing him, saving herself and the nurse but she's reopened all of her wounds and Mike says she was in a state of shock. The doctors got her headed back to surgery once they assessed the damages done with the attack. I didn't get all the details but I guess it's not pretty with what's left in the hospital room."

Both Cody and Mark sat slowly back down, shocked, looking at each other for assurances they'd heard Matt right. Matt continued, "They are calling off the search. Apparently whatever is done now is to search for the body of the escaped convict. Mike said for us to stay here since he's already there and try to get some rest. He'll keep watch over her till we get there in the morning. He said he's got a crime scene to coordinate investigation though he knows it won't take too long. It's the clean up that's going to take some time." Matt looked a little pale. He wasn't sure he wanted to know more than that.

Everyone seemed in a state of stunned silence and finally, Matt got up and went back to his and to Robin to let her know what was happening. Mark and Izzy both headed to their bunkroom and Cody stretched out on a cot near the fireplace. Cody had to be there to answer phones if they rang during the night. He wasn't sure at this point in time if he'd even be able to get to sleep with thoughts of Gunny being stuck in the hospital alone except for Mike to watch out for her.

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The sunlight through the window in her room was coming in at an angle through the blinds, slanting across the white tiled floor. She had started to open an eyelid but quickly shut it again due to the light. She knew she wasn't alone but she wasn't sure if she'd alerted them that she was awake. She opened her eyes slowly to look in the direction of the person sitting in the chair.

Her mind was still a little fuzzy but she was laying on her right side, her leg and arm propped up on pillows. She watched Cody sitting in the sunlight, staring out the window. She wanted to remember him just as he was, sitting there as the gray hues of cloud-covered sun threw shadows and shades of darkness across him where the light didn't reach. He was dressed in blue jeans, a dark wine colored sweater and hiking boots. He was lost in thought, not aware that she was watching him. She watched him for another moment through half opened eyes.

Finally she took a chance and spoke up. "Hi…." Her throat was sore and dry and she got the notion she'd been in surgery again.

Cody's head quickly turned in her direction and he got up and brought his chair over by her bed. There was a look of utter relief on his face at seeing her awake. "Hi." He said in response. He hadn't offered to take her hand but she moved her right hand out a little as an invitation and he gently took her hand in his.

She lay there, simply savoring the feeling of the gentle touch, a touch that had nothing to be gained by it other to convey a sense of concern and caring. "How long?" she asked.

Cody smiled a little, "Just shy of two days. Had a little bit of a fever until last night." His fingers simply rested under hers, letting her set the pace of what she wanted. "You ok?" he asked gently.

She knew what he asking about and to be honest with herself, she really didn't know. Her mind was a bit fuzzy on the whole thing for some reason. "I'm not really sure. It seems to have happened so fast. To me, it seems like I was just shot a few days ago and then he suddenly showed up and then this. It's been over a month for everyone else though…"

Cody nodded, "But that's not what I really meant by asking if you were ok…" he said quietly.

Gunny looked at him, then looked away. "I … I don't know. I feel numb, like it never happened or it was like watching a movie…"

He nodded and she simply remained quiet, still trying to figure it all out for herself, but feeling the slow throbbing now of the pain coming back to the front and relished it … it meant she was alive.

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Cody sat in the chair next to Gunny's hospital bed, waiting for her to finally wake up. She'd been asleep since the surgery two days ago. She slept blissfully through the questioning and interrogating everyone seemed to be going through once the government found out about the attack.

He grumbled to himself as he thought about how the military representative, Max's lawyer and the federal agents had all been acting. It was if they were trying to cover up a major screw-up while the lawyer was threatening to sue Gunny for wrongful death. No one listened to him and after Sheriff Mac had a 'word' with him, he quickly turned tail and headed out of town. But the others were still lingering in hopes that she'd wake so they could question her about the attacks.

The worst of everything was that no matter how hard Mac had tried to keep a lid on the attack that happened just over four weeks ago and the one two nights ago, the media had gotten a hold of the story and it was now all over the news from coast to coast and probably around the world. The ranger station was swamped with phone calls, nosy reporters questioning them at every turn as to how they knew her, what was she like, what had happened, who was this man that had hurt her and on and on and on. They had set up a station outside of the hospital since they weren't allowed in. Everyone wanted a shot of this Marine Gunnery Sergeant that had survived three attacks on her person and that she had taken out the last attacker while still wounded with a penknife. It was the sensation all over the news and it had gotten so blown out of whack that the military representative and Sheriff Mac had to step in and lay out the story as simply as possible from what happened in Iraq six years ago to the imprisonment of the three men and their release five years later, to the attack four weeks ago and then two days ago.

Cody and Matt were taking shifts to stay with her until she awoke to keep people out of her room and give her someone familiar to wake up to. Cody had already talked to Matt about his decision that he was going to take Gunny up to the cabin once she was let out of here, to recover in some semblance of peace and quiet. Matt heartily agreed and since they had two temporaries helping answer phones, dispatch calls and help take care of Jessica, Jeremiah and Jimmy, it freed Robin up to help on calls. Mark was the backup pilot so he was on flight duty when the need called for it.

He sat quietly, watching another gentle snow falling from the sky and hoped that if the weather turned a little more, the reporters and media would be willing to leave for fear of being snowed in and not prepared for the incoming cold weather and large quantities of snow. The sun was setting already and the winds were beginning to pick up a little.

Cody was lost in thought when a very soft sound came from the direction of where Gunny's bed was situated. He wasn't quite sure what he heard but it sounded like 'Hi'. He turned his head quickly to see that one eyelid was pried halfway open, watching him with a drowsy blue eye. His heart sped up a little as he got up and quickly moved his chair to be closer. He wasn't sure if he should touch her or not for fear that she might react after what had happened but when her right hand slid out from under the blanket and her fingers reached a little towards him, he reached carefully up and took the four in his hand and gave them a gentle squeeze.

He had to fight the instinct to want to kiss them since he wasn't sure how she would take it. "Hi." He responded instead.