(So...Happy early St. Patty's Day! I didn't realize I had this chapter done and only needed to add just a little here and there, do a little editing and my Beta got it back to me post-haste. So thank her. I figured I'd give everyone who has so kindly followed and to those also who have posted reviews to my story a special 'thank you' with this chapter by posting it instead of waiting till Monday. Enjoy...I know I did writing this one ;) )

Chapter 31

Mid-May

Spring came late that year to the higher elevations but snow was beginning to melt quickly in the bright sunlight. Flowers were peeking up under the thin crust of snow left in some areas. In the higher elevations, snow still clung greedily to the sides of the mountains but it wouldn't be long before they too succumb to the onslaught of warmer weather.

Cody was in a panic as he rushed around the cabin looking for the last book he needed before he and his dad headed down to the high school. It was barely five in the morning but he had a two and a half hour ride to get into town so he could take his finals. It might barely be spring in the mountains but it was already late spring in Tahoe.

"Cody, I thought you had all of this stuff packed up last night," called his dad from downstairs.

"I did but I pulled out one of the books to study before I went to bed," came back the answering voice.

Jesse sighed and finished his cup of coffee and put together a sandwich for Cody to eat on the way down, knowing the boy would be too nervous to bother eating before they left. He tossed in an apple as well.

He smiled to himself. Cody was taking his senior finals today and on the way home, they were going to stop by the station, get Matt and come back up to the cabin for some R and R. He had planned a little fishing trip with Matt ahead of time to make sure he'd take the time off.

Who knew what lay ahead in the next few months before Cody went off to college and Jesse decided to make the most of the time he could. Cody had started applying for scholarships last November as well as putting in applications to several colleges that focused on photo journalism but thanks to the high recommendation of Roger Fornell, Cody managed to land himself a full ride scholarship to the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. Jesse was nervous about his youngest going away to a big city but Matt had promised that he would make sure that Cody would be ready to handle the big city by the time classes started this fall.

His youngest had grown into a fine young man and though he was the youngest, he too would soon leave the 'nest'. But before that happened, Jesse would do his best to get in a few more months of time with Cody before life took him off in other pursuits.

Cody came down the stairs and put the last book in his saddle bags then looked at his dad nervously. "All right. Guess I'm ready."

Jesse handed him the sack breakfast and smiled, "You'll do fine son. Have faith in yourself."

A newer model blue Dodge pickup with a topper on the back pulled into the parking lot of the Ranger Station. Behind it was a two stall used horse trailer carrying at least one horse from the dark brown nose that stuck out slightly through one of the slits to sniff at the air. Robin looked up from her desk and out the front window of the station after noticing the flash of light coming off one of the mirrors of the truck. She noted the California license plate but due to the sun glare off the front window she couldn't see who was inside. Since nothing rang any bells with her as far as the truck description or license plate number, she said nothing to the others who were scattered around the inside of the station. It was only 8:30 in the morning and everyone was working on their list of tasks that Tim had just handed out to them earlier.

Matt normally would have handed out their assignments to them but he was upstairs in his room sleeping off a dose of pain killers and already working on his 'time off'. They'd all had a scare with him the evening before during a rather tricky rescue of a stranded hiker that had fallen and slid down a shale cliff side. Matt had been the one to go after him and after securing the hiker to the harness, one of Matt's ropes had frayed and snapped under the strain. Thankfully the hiker had stayed attached to the spare rigging secured to him but Matt had ended up sliding half way down the incline with loose shale around him. He was all right as far as no broken bones or serious injuries but he was black and blue down one side of his body with rock abrasions and small cuts.

Jesse and Cody would be stopping by later this afternoon after Cody's senior final exams were done and they were planning on taking him back up to the cabin to make him take some down time and possibly go on a fishing trip with them. Lord knew he deserved it with the hell he'd been through the past few months. The Rangers were all in secret agreement that he was working himself to the bone just so he'd be too busy to think about Clara. She had only sent them one note and it was mainly to the whole group, not to Matt. They knew he was frustrated by her silence and it worried them. Cody had received a short letter around Thanksgiving but it didn't say much in it other than she was doing better and nervous about the upcoming trial.

Looking back down at her own work and clearing her thoughts so she could focus she didn't see the woman that got out of the truck. The sound of boots on the front porch was followed by the sound of the two doors opening and closing.

"Guy down at the store told me I had to check in if I was gonna go up into the mountains," came a familiar voice. The usual sounds of activity slowly stilled and Robin looked up to see who had come in.

"Clara?" called Jimmy from across the room before Robin could recognize the woman standing there dressed in a nice, comfortable looking wool lined denim jacket, unlike the oversized thing she'd worn the first time they'd seen her. She was dressed in blue jeans, a thick sweatshirt and a pair of good hiking boots, all well suited for being in the mountains. Her hair had grown out some more and now hung down to her shoulders and around her face, tossed a little from the wind.

Activity in the Ranger Station had gone silent as she stood there looking at them, arms crossed. With a raised eyebrow, Clara tilted her head slightly. "What? Were you expecting the Playboy Bunny?" she asked with a slight glint of mirth to her eyes and the curve of a wicked smile to her lips.

That broke the tension and with a laugh, Jimmy leapt over the back of the couch and came over to her, wrapping his arms around her, giving her a big hug. "Bought damned time you came back," he stated with a grin.

With a look of surprise and an 'oof' at being hugged so fiercely, she blinked when he let go of her. "I…yeah. I had some things I had to finish taking care of before I could sneak away."

"Sneak away?" asked Avila as he came over, taking up a corner of Robin's desk to perch on, smirking as if she were trying to joke.

Her blue eyes looked at him, a slight look of discomfort in them, "Yeah. Sneak away. Run away…whatever you want to call it. I'm still a hot item to the paparazzi. I couldn't go anywhere without being followed, photographed, asked questions. I know for a fact my phone lines were tapped though it's illegal to do so without a warrant. I'm certain that any mail I sent from my home was scanned over by postal workers paid handsomely to be shown what was in it."

These words sobered them into silence. Significant glances were cast from one Ranger to another. "So…is that why you only wrote to us once and never called?" asked Izzy in his innocent way of asking things.

She looked over at him and then nodded, "Matt and I talked about this when I was still in the hospital. I didn't want you guys bothered by people snooping around and asking questions. You have a hard enough job without trying to avoid those nut jobs. The two times I tried to get away to come up here when in town for the trail, I had to change plans half way here because I couldn't shake my 'tail' and ended up going past this place to head into the next town over like I was going shopping or something. It really sucked," she said with a slight frown.

Clara sighed softly then there was a glint of wicked mirth to her eyes again. "But…for the past two months, I've been playing a huge Shell Game on them…trying to organize things so that they never knew if I was coming or going, moving in or moving out of which house, my rental or my parents, moving vans in and out, going here and there. The things I wanted to keep and bring back up here were all moved onto a truck over time and put into storage. Of course they all think I'm on a plane for the Bahamas right now and that I'm having my parent's house remodeled so I can move in. When in fact they will soon find out it's been donated and turned into a halfway house for abused women. When they try to find me at my old place, it was a rental and all the furniture was rented and the lease is up on everything that wasn't mine. I don't live there anymore." She grinned then. "Like I said…a big shell game."

Tim, who grew up in the Brooklyn and had seen plenty of Shell Games played on the street corners of his neighborhood, was well aware of how slick the masters of those games could be. He laughed aloud, "Oh man! I would love to see their faces when they realize you're nowhere to be found," he paused to look at her seriously, "So are you here to stay for good then?"

While Tim spoke, her eyes were looking around the station. She looked back at him and nodded, "Well as part of the agreement with the record company, I have to produce one more album and go on one more tour across America with the band which is to start in about three months. Otherwise, this is my home now." She grew quiet and then finally looked at Jimmy. "Where's Matt?" she asked quietly.

Jimmy looked at Tim who shifted uncomfortably then frowned a little, "He's upstairs…."

Matt was in a half dream state when he felt the bed shift along his left side as if someone was sitting next to him. Some part of his brain told him it must be his dad coming to get him to haul him up to the cabin. He vacantly wondered if he could convince him to let him sleep for another hour.

The feeling of delicate fingers brushing the hair from his forehead made his thoughts freeze in his head. His dad's hands were never that soft and the touch was almost that of a lover's. When those fingers ran several knuckles down his cheek, he pried his eyes open and he worked to focus them in the half dark of his room.

The feminine outline sat on the edge of his bed, only visible enough due to the mid-morning sun coming around the edges of the blinds over his windows. "Who…?" he struggled to ask. His brain was still foggy from the pain killers the ER had given him the night before. He normally didn't like taking them but his body ached everywhere.

"The doctor told me that if the pain in my chest didn't go away in a few months, I should come back and have you check it out," came a soft voice that sounded familiar. Fingers brushed through his hair as his brain worked to try and connect the pieces together.

"Clara?" he mumbled, one hand going up to his eyes to try and rub away the sleep clinging to them.

"Mmm hmm," came the affirmative. The soft hand came down to run her knuckles along his stubble roughened cheek. "I'm sorry for not writing to you or calling. I tried to make it up here twice but couldn't shake my 'tail' either time."

The words seemed to make only a little sense to his befuddled brain but he pushed himself up on his elbow and looked at her shadowed form. "Couldn't you get word to us through Lisa?" he asked.

Her hand stilled on his cheek, "She's the only way I was able to get what little I got out to the station and to Cody," she said quietly. "I didn't want to take any chances. I wanted to come back here to a place where no one would be 'waiting' for me to show up."

Reaching up slowly, he found her fingers and took hold of them, gripped them gently. "I was 'waiting'," was all he could manage to say, this throat catching on the raw emotions he felt deep inside at seeing her again, being able to touch her once again after all these months. The pain medication he'd taken was causing the normal emotional barriers he kept up to slip and he struggled to get control of himself.

There was silence from her for a few moments, but then he felt her shift next to him. There was pressure on his shoulder as her hand pushed him back against the mattress. He gave in easily enough since he ached everywhere. He sensed her leaning over him. "You have no idea how much I missed you and these damned mountains…," she whispered against his ear. Lifting her head a little, she found his lips with hers and kissed him tenderly, putting as much emotion into it as she could.

A little groan escaped his lips and his hand reached up, his fingers running along the back of her head, trapping her against him as he returned the kiss, showing her without words how he had missed her and the way he truly felt.

TBC -