AN: Thanks for the reviews everyone! It was definitely reassuring! I'm feeling a bit better about things now! I had a feeling the story would take a turn from fluffy somewhere, but I wasn't sure which way it was going to go! Now I know! Hope y'all enjoy, and as usual, I don't own them!

Chapter 9

Nurses and Footprints

CJ opened his eyes against the bright florescent light. Quickly he shut them again and slowly opened them as they adjusted to the light. There was a steady beeping sound next to him. He looked around. He was in the hospital. The annoying beep that seemed to increase the throbbing of his head was a heart monitor, which was hooked up to him. Of course, he thought annoyed sitting up.

"Mr. Manoso!" A nurse hustled in. "We were wondering when you would wake up. Now lay back down. You can't move around so quickly. You gave us quite a fright!"

The nurse was blonde with a little waist and long hair that begged for a man to tangle his hands in. He let her push him back down gently. She gave him a coy smile as she moved his bed so he was sitting up better. "Now, stay there while I get the doctor!"

"Yes ma'am." He drawled watching her departing back.

Someone laughed next to him. He looked over and found JJ sitting next to the bed. JJ grinned. "Yeah, you've got all the hotties coming in to make sure you're okay."

"It's in the genes." CJ replied. "What are you doing here?"

"Didn't figure it was a good idea to leave you alone after that rumble out there." JJ leaned back. "Who the hell did you piss off?"

"I didn't piss anyone off other than you." CJ said wincing. "Fuck. What happened?"

"I was hoping you could tell us." Ranger said strolling into the room with Stephanie next to him. From where he sat CJ could feel the absolute fury radiating off his father. This bypassed any anger he'd ever seen out of him growing up.

"CJ." Stephanie was by his side running a hand through his hair. He could see the worry and fear in her eyes and hated that he'd put it there.

"Who called you?" He asked. If he could have avoided scaring his parents he would have.

"I did." JJ answered. When CJ shot him a glare he shrugged. "Dude. You lost consciousness before we even got you into my truck. You were bleeding pretty damn bad. The only ones who can make medical decisions for you are your parents."

"He's right, CJ." Ranger said. Even his fury he was surprised when he'd gotten the call from JJ.

"Mr. Manoso. Good to see you're awake." The doctor walked in. "I'm Dr. Smith. How are you feeling?"

"Like I went twenty rounds with Uncle Tank." CJ muttered trying to close his eyes again. This was a bad dream. He was sure it was. He just had to keep his eyes shut and he would wake up wrapped around…shit what was her name?

"CJ!" Stephanie scolded. He opened his eyes wide before realizing he'd said all those things out loud. Crap.

"Mr. Manoso, we're going to keep you here for the next couple days." Dr. Smith said. "You took a pretty deep knife wound and are very lucky it didn't catch anything vital. On top of that you've got some fractured ribs." Well that certainly explained the discomfort surrounding his lungs. "I'm also concerned about a concussion. Mr. Morelli said you hit the ground pretty hard when the fight was done."

"I guess." CJ shrugged. He couldn't remember.

"We're going to monitor your vitals for the next couple days. From all the wounds you've got we want to make sure nothing sneaks up on you. So when we give you the okay, we'll release you to go home."

"Okay." He liked hospitals about as much as Stephanie did, but his head fucking hurt. "Can I get something for my head?"

"Of course. I'll see to it that something is brought immediately. Although I must say you won't have too much trouble getting service." He jerked a thumb toward the open door. CJ could see several nurses peeking around trying to get glimpses of him. His lips quirked upward. Hm…

"Don't even think about it son." Ranger said warningly. He looked at Dr. Smith. "I will be having men from RangeMan coming to guard his room. I trust this will not be a problem?"

"Of course not." Dr. Smith shook his head. "I'll see to it that others are aware of it."

Ranger nodded his head to the doctor and waited until he had left the room. Shutting the door he looked at CJ. "What happened CJ?"

"I don't know." CJ shut his eyes again and worked on recalling the events around the loud hammering in his head. Slowly he managed to tell his parents what happened. He felt a shift in anger. It wasn't just coming from his father he realized. The worry and protectiveness his mother had been holding onto switched into a fury that matched Ranger's.

"And where do you come into this?" Stephanie asked JJ coldly. "As far as I know, you don't even like our family."

"I... Ahh..." JJ rubbed his head. "Ma'am, I owe your family an apology."

"What?" She looked shocked from this statement.

JJ let out a breath. "Yeah. Well, I had to call Dad the night CJ and I got thrown into jail. Something he said was…shocking to say the least. Anyway when I did get bailed out I made some calls. Things weren't sitting right. I talked to Eddie and Carl and had some things set straight." He fidgeted. He wasn't good with apologies. "I'm sorry for the disrespect I've shown you in the past.

"This morning I saw CJ get jumped and knew he wouldn't get out of that successfully since it was seven to one. I don't think the guys were expecting interference. They hightailed it out of there pretty quick. I'm guessing they were aiming to take CJ based off what he said and based off the fact that they didn't stick around to keep fighting with both of us in there. CJ went down pretty fast after they left."

Stephanie was staring at him in surprise. When she and Joe had officially split for good they had ended things amicably. At least that's what she had thought. She and Ranger had married and were happy. Joe had finally gotten married and seemed happy. Her grandmother had no problems talking about the arguments all the neighbors could hear coming from the Morelli household. Word spread throughout the burg that Joe was bitter about Ranger having Stephanie. She never made a move to give him hope otherwise because she had been (and currently still was) absolutely in love with Ranger.

JJ was showing a remorse and wisdom that Joe had never showed. She had a feeling it came from his mother and felt sympathy for him for losing her. Perhaps if she had lived JJ would have had a better upbringing without all the brainwashing Joe was able to do.

Stephanie walked over to JJ. Leaning down she kissed his cheek and said, "Thank you for saving my son." She smiled when JJ looked at her and blushed. Who would've thought, she giggled inside, that a Morelli could blush?

The blonde who had come to help CJ earlier came back in with some pain pills. After giving CJ another inviting once over, she turned to leave and gave Ranger a good once over as well. Stephanie cleared her throat. "Young lady, if you want to keep your eyes in your head, you will stop ogling my husband."

The nurse hustled out of there shutting the door quickly. Ranger grinned at Stephanie. "Babe."

She raised an eyebrow at him and planted her hands on her hips. "What?"

"You never disappoint." He replied. He turned back to his son who was watching the door longingly. "CJ, do you have any idea who would have wanted to jump you?"

His lips tugged. "Besides women? No. The only one I've consistently pissed off is JJ and seeing as how he came to my aid…I'd say we have to rule him out."

"Perhaps one of your old enemies…or mine." Stephanie murmured.

"Perhaps." Ranger agreed. Fuck, he hated this. He had had a paralyzing fear when JJ told him CJ had been rushed into the emergency room. The relief that his son was alive was quickly overridden by the sudden angry urge to hunt and kill whoever had jumped his son. Stephanie was right. They would have to go through all their enemies and see who was still active and see who might be feeling ballsy enough to attack his family.

"Um…Mom?" CJ looked at her. "Are you planning to stay here the entire time I'm here?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Stephanie asked.

"Mom…" CJ groaned. He loved his parents. Really and truly. But there were times when a man had to be a man….and that included when he was stuck in the hospital. Plus there was that blonde nurse…

Ranger took pity on his son. "Babe, we'll visit, but let's let him have his peace."

"Our son was attacked!" She whirled around and glared at him.

"I know which is why we have guards coming to stay with him." Ranger replied. "You and I are of no use in finding out who did this if we're here all day and night."

Stephanie narrowed her eyes at him then turned quickly and pointed at JJ. "You! You are not to let him try leaving this hospital before the doctor gives his okay! You are his guard dog until we say differently."

"Why would he…oh. Never mind." JJ quickly recalled stories from Stephanie's bounty hunter days when she had a bad habit of not listening to people when they told her to stay put. Something told him from the look on her face that CJ followed her footsteps very closely from that.

"Son, we're going to step out and make some calls." Ranger said, taking Stephanie's hand. "We'll be here for a while."

"Sure, Dad." CJ waited until his parents left before smirking at JJ. "Looks like that makes you my bitch."

"You're lucky you're in the hospital." JJ and CJ laughed. In that moment a feud fell away and a friendship that had been buried from elementary school began creeping out into the open.

Out in the hall, Stephanie turned into Ranger. "Damn it, Carlos!" She clutched his shirt. "Who did this to him?"

"I don't know, Babe." Ranger wrapped his arms around her. "But when we find out, they'll wish they hadn't."

Tears filled her eyes as she buried her face in his chest. "Oh god. When you called I thought…."

"I know, Babe. I know." He tightened his hold on her as she sobbed quietly and buried his face in her hair. They stood there for several minutes.

Finally, Stephanie leaned back and looked up at Ranger. "What do you mean we'll visit? We're his parents."

"Babe." Ranger smiled. "He's a man."

"That doesn't mean anything when you're—oh for heaven's sake!" Stephanie rolled her eyes when she saw several nurses eye her husband. CJ was his father's son alright. Of course he wanted his privacy. "Fine. We'll let him have his quiet time."

…

Elise walked into the hospital and found CJ's room. Stephanie had called her at RangeMan and given her the update. Julie had been told also but was currently out after an FTA. She would be by later. "Hey, little brother."

The blonde nurse was helping CJ settle back in bed. Her hands lingered on him for a bit before turning to leave. She gave Elise a look of disdain which was met with a blank look from her.

"Shit, CJ." Elise smiled at him. "Don't you ever try to go without getting a girl?"

"She's cute." He shrugged and winced. "Just because you're not getting any doesn't mean I don't have to." He saw her tense. "Sorry. Low blow."

"Yeah." She said softly. Sitting next to him, she eyed him. "So, get an angry husband and his friends after you?"

"Ha. I wish." CJ rolled his eyes. "I dunno. The guy who stopped me was dressed all in black. Smoked a cigarette. He reminded me of a twenties gangster with the way he acted. Just without a suit."

Something clicked in the back of her mind. "What did he say?"

"Said his boss wanted to talk to me privately. I told him he could come to me. Things turned bad at that point." He closed his eyes. The headache was beginning to come back. "Hey, where's Cami? I would have thought she'd be by for sure."

"She was still sleeping when Dad and I left this morning." Elise replied. "Mom said she was going for a run when she left."

"We should call and check on her." CJ said. "If I was jumped and if she was out running by herself then we don't know what could happen."

"Shit, you're right." Elise pulled out her phone and dialed Cami. There was no answer. Elise looked back at her brother. "I'm going to go check at the house. Call Dad and see if she showed up at RangeMan. Call me and let me know either way."

Elise got to the beach house in record time and found her sister's cell phone sitting on the counter with several missed calls. Most of them were from her or Stephanie. Something wasn't sitting right. The back door was still unlocked. Cami would have locked it when she came in. Elise searched through the house for her sister.

CJ had called her and told her that she had never shown up at RangeMan. Walking out to the back of the house, she saw foot prints that she could only assume had been Cami. They were only leaving the house area. There were no footsteps indicating any return. Elise followed the footsteps. Slowly she began picking up her pace as she continued down the beach.

She could see the footsteps continue. Her body hit a breakneck run as she hurried along the trail that she could only assume was her sister.

By the time she came to the end of them she was breathing hard. She knew Cami liked to run. They all did, but sometimes she forgot that Cami could lose herself in running. It looked like this was one of those mornings for her.

She found a large area of footprints. Where the one set she had followed ended there were three more that joined. Two of them lead toward the water. One simply disappeared. Cami. She could feel it in her gut. Whatever had happened to Cami, she'd been carried away. Another set lead up to a deserted parking lot. She walked up to the parking lot and looked around. There was no way in hell Cami would have been able to get help out here she realized. Cami would have had to run like the wind, but she would have run back to where she was safest.

Her phone rang on her hip. "Yeah?"

"Where are you?" Ranger demanded.

"I'm at the spot Cami was taken." She whispered.