Shelter from the Storm
a/n Zoe is four, maybe five. Enjoy!
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Chapter 11 ~One Killer is All You'll Ever Need
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[Ranger]
The job had been short, swift, violent—and successful. Ranger let himself into the penthouse apartment on Haywood Street on a rainy Friday afternoon in October. He dropped his keys in the silver dish, dropped his duffle and weapons case in the foyer and walked through to the kitchen.
He said, "Something smells good."
"Daddydaddydaddy! You are home!" Zoë hurled herself at him and he scooped her up for a hug and a hello kiss.
"Did you miss me, baby?"
"You were gone so long!"
"Sweetheart, it was only a few days. What are you ladies up to tonight?" He looked over Zoë's head at Ella who stood by the sink smiling a fond welcome.
She said, "Welcome home. It's Britta's day off and Stephanie had to go out."
Zoë chimed in, "We are making pie! Many pies! Three! And mommy saw what we were doing and got on the phone with Aunt Lula real fast, 'cos she said they had a skip."
Ranger nodded. He knew all this of course. He leaned down and patted the little dog who waited patiently at his feet. "How ya doin', Killer? Anything good fall on the floor for you to eat, man?" The fawn pug gazed soulfully into Ranger's eyes then refocused intently on the cutting board that was piled with apple cores.
"Daddy! Killer loves apples, did you know that? We has a class trip today and we went to the apple orchard and we had a hayride and we got to pick apples and I got some to bring home and me and Ella are making pie!"
Killer loved anything edible. Ranger hoped pugs were supposed to eat apples because otherwise the results might not be pretty.
Ella said, "Lester went with the parent chaperones, Ranger."
Ranger nodded again and set Zoë down.
Ella wondered for a moment how her employer knew everything, always, but Zoë was looking up at Ranger and saying, "Daddy! Did you have hot dogs for lunch? Mommy always spills ketchup on her when we have hot dogs!"
Ranger glanced down at himself. He was dressed casually, intentionally low-profile, in faded jeans and one of his usual trademark expensive black t-shirts under a white button up shirt, black leather jacket unzipped on top. The jacket had fallen open and the white shirt was marred by a spreading red stain.
He said, "Oh it's nothing. A little accident." But Ella thought he looked pale around the nose and mouth and she grabbed a handful of paper towels, passing them to Ranger.
She said calmly, "Let's get you into the living room, I am calling Brown." Subtext: Or do you need an ambulance?'
Zoë little voice said, "Daddy?"
Ranger replied, "It's nothing, baby,'' even as Ella helped him out of the jacket and shirt. He slouched down on the sofa and stuffed the paper towels under the t-shirt to try to stop the bleeding from the knife slash across his rib cage.
"Do you have a boo-boo, daddy?"
"Just a little one, baby."
"Will you have a scar? Like the one on your arm? I know it makes mommy worry but Uncle Anthony says, you know, chicks really dig scars!" She was referring to the bullet crease Ranger had gotten all those years ago rescuing Mooner and Dougie. It had left a white line on his bicep and he knew Steph still blamed herself.
Ranger said to Zoë, "Anthony should know…." He closed his eyes for a minute. H knew he should send Zoë to her room, but thought that would be even scarier for her. She could stay and see that he was fine. Ranger felt Zoë climb up on the sofa next to him. Killer jumped up too and snuggled between them. Zoë took his hand and he faded a bit, waking up a minute later to Bobby Brown coming in with his medical bag.
"Let me see, Ranger. Zoë, honey, you need to move," ordered Bobby Brown, Ranger's good friend and the company medic.
Zoë said, "I am going to stay and hold daddy's hand so it won't hurt. That's what mommy does when I need a Sin Nation."
Both men said, "What?"
Zoë mimed getting an injection and Brown nodded, "A vaccination….well…, "
Ranger said, "Let her stay, it's just a scratch. They fixed it up on the job, but…."
Brown cut away the t-shirt, Ranger thinking, hey, a hundred bucks, dude! Bobby said, "You need stitches, Ranger, these butterfly Band-Aids are crap." In Spanish he said, "You should go to the emergency room."
Ranger said, "No," while Zoë said back in Spanish, "The emergency room is scary. Daddy doesn't want to go there."
Brown looked at her and Ranger and sighed. The kid talked so much in English! Did she really have to speak Spanish too?
He met Ranger's eyes and Ranger did his infinitesimal shrug, made even smaller by the pain of the injury, which was much more severe than either he or Brown were letting on.
"I'll do my best but if I can't stop the bleeding…"
"Get on with it. So, Zoë…talk to me, baby, I hate needles."
"Me too, daddy, except when Ella and I sew with Aunt Olivia. She is going to make a quilt with me, did you know that? It is going to be pink.…And you know what, daddy, Aunt Olivia has new puppies, Rosalita had babies and I think Killer would like a baby brother! Killer gets lonesome! Killer wants a puppy."
Ranger glanced down at Killer who was snoring slightly. "Did you discuss this with your mother, chica?"
"Yes and she said, Maybe a hamster, but then she got all cry-y, and I don't think we want a hamster."
No, thought Ranger, Steph still mourned her tiny companion Rex. He said, "I don't know, Zoë, Killer might be sad, he might not want to share."
"But, daddy!"
"Killer loves you a lot…I think one Killer is all you'll ever need, babe."
"Uncle Anthony says that too, daddy."
"I'm not surprised."
"All done," announced Bobby.
"Zoooo-o-o-ë, time to take the pies out!" called Ella.
"Yay. Do you want pie, Uncle Bobby? We made it all ourselves. An' we got ice cream too! For on top, yum!"
"Yes, please."
The child scampered away, followed by the chubby little pug dog.
Brown stared at Ranger until the silence made Ranger open his eyes and say, "What?"
Bobby quoted, "One Killer is all you'll ever need, babe?"
"It came out wrong."
"Yeah."
the end/ series to be continued (a Columbus Day story wil be posted Sunday nite or Monday! enjoy...)