AN: Okay, I'm sorry for the long period between update. I wasn't sure how I wanted to do this chapter, and even now, I'm not entirely sure it's all that good. I originally thought this story was going to end after the next chapter, but I'm thinking there might be several more due to some unresolved issues going on for some of the kiddos, and even Ranger and Steph. So, I hope you guys like this chapter. For those of you have been so thoughtful to review, thanks a million :-) I'm super glad y'all are still with me on this! Enjoy the chapter, and please review!

Reunions

The heart monitor beeped annoyingly in her ears. She could feel the metal in her left hand—could feel the warmth of the strong hand that covered hers. He was there. Waiting. Through the fog she fought her way back so she could see his eyes, see him.

Finally, she was back. Her eyes fluttered opened. The first thing she saw was a set of beautiful grey eyes that reflected the love she felt for him.

"Hi." Elise croaked out.

"Hi yourself." Trevor smiled at her. His eyes filled briefly, but he blinked them back.

"You have the most beautiful eyes." She said, feeling the scratchiness of her throat.

"Yeah?" Trevor chuckled as he reached next to him and grabbed a small cup of water. He held it to her lips and watched as she drank, her eyes never leaving his. "I thought you weren't going to wake up."

Elise smiled and held up the hand that held her dog tags and was currently encased in his still. "I had three of the most important men help me back."

He grinned and kissed her. It was intense as it deepened further, both expressing their love in that moment. When they broke apart, they continued looking at each other. Trevor's hand cupped the back of her head, his fingers threading through her short curls. Her eyes filled with tears and she looked away with a small grin.

"I love you, you know." She said softly, looking back up at him.

"I love you." He whispered kissing her again.

Elise took a look around the room. She wasn't surprised to see the private room, knowing her father and his penchant for privacy. She had a vague feeling of déjà vu as she looked around, but couldn't place why.

But what surprised her was that there was no one here.

"Where is everyone?"

"They're getting some rest. I promised I wouldn't leave your side." Trevor said, perching on the side of the bed.

"Like you would have gone away anyway." Elise teased. She glanced at a nearby clock. It was still early in the morning. There was a good chance people wouldn't show up until later.

"Alan had to promise the nurses he'd watch over me while you were in surgery." Trevor said smiling. "I refused to go back to my room."

"Trev…" Her voice drifted off as she caught the look he was giving her. Any lecture she had been preparing to give him died away. He looked like hell. She wasn't surprised. She'd probably look just as bad if the roles had been reversed.

"Thanks." She whispered.

"I'd do anything for you." He replied placing his forehead against hers. "I'd walk into hell for you."

She bit her lip as she looked down then met his eyes again, kissing him softly. She took her inventory of him, taking stock of his injuries. She was mildly surprised she couldn't see any of them. "How are you?"

"I was mostly starved and dehydrated." Trevor said. "Ortega wanted to wait until he got ahold of you before doing anything, although that didn't stop him from dealing the occasional blow."

"Good thing he's dead." Elise muttered. She blinked trying to remember the fight. She pulled away and looked at Trevor. "Wait, he is dead, right?"

"Yes, by the father/daughter duo as Billy has taken to calling you and Ranger." Trevor said grinning as she groaned.

"I'm going to kill him if Cami doesn't first." Elise said then remembered Mac. Her eyes filled with tears and she was unable to stop them as they slipped down her cheeks.

"Elise, what is it?" Trevor looked at her concerned.

"My dad…Mac. I saw him while I was in a coma." She said.

Trevor shifted around the bed so he could wrap his arms around her. Elise leaned back into him and rested her head in the crook of his neck. He continued to hold her good hand, which kept her dog tags safely tucked in her grip. She told him about Mac talking to her, and helping her come home.

After a bit, they sat in a comfortable silence. A nurse came in and when she saw Elise awake she quickly hurried to get the doctor. The doctor visited and they sat discussing Elise's recovery. She had already guessed on a good recoup time. She was told at least a month and a half before the cast on her leg would come off. She would need physical therapy for both her leg and her wrist. He had pain meds waiting for her if she felt she would need them.

Elise simply looked at the pills with disdain.

"You should take them." Trevor told her.

"No."

"Elise."

"Trev."

"Baby, come on," He murmured in her ear.

Before she could turn to argue, Cami came bouncing into the room, saying, "Alright, Trevor, we've decided you have to sleep. We're making you—Omigod!" She stopped walking and her jaw dropped as she saw Elise sitting up staring at her. "Omigod! Mom, Dad! Mom, Dad! She's awake!" Cami rushed out of the room, "Mom, Dad! She's awake!"

She came racing back into the room and right up to Elise. "Oh, god! I didn't think you'd wake up!" She hugged her sister tightly, which turned into hugging Trevor since he wasn't letting go of her.

"Hi, Cami." Elise said as she was squeezed tighter. "Ok…still need to breathe!"

"Oops." Cami released her and gave a sheepish grin. "Sorry."

"Elise." Stephanie was at her daughter's side the moment she walked into the room. "Oh, sweetie."

"Hi, Mom." Trevor moved so the family could hug her. Stephanie and Ranger both took their time, studying their daughter intently.

Elise gave her father a grin. "I hear we make a good duo."

"You did good, Munchkin." Ranger said hugging her tightly. "I'm very proud of you." He looked at everyone. "I need a moment with Elise."

Everyone looked like they wanted to argue, but Stephanie knew her husband wanted to talk to their daughter about something that happened on the mission. He hadn't told her about it, and she didn't know if he could, but she simply nodded and ushered everyone out of the room and shut the door behind her.

Ranger sat on the edge of the bed and picked up the pain pills the doctor had left on the table next to her. He held them out to her. "You need to take these, Munchkin."

"No." She gave him a stubborn, defiant look.

"Give your body some ease." He told her.

"According to the doctor, I've been out for a week and a half. My body has had time to be at ease." Elise retorted.

"Elise."

"Dad."

"Elise!"

"Dad."

"Munchkin." Ranger put the pills down carefully and looked at her. "You. Are. Not. Lorraine. I heard what you said on the plane when Alan and Bobby had to set your leg. How often are you not taking medicines the doctors give you for the pain?"

She looked down. "You're one to talk, Dad."

"Do as I say, not as I do." Ranger replied with a grin. Then he got serious again. "Elise, I've been told about some of your injuries. You know I've got contacts in the Rangers still. Munchkin, it kills me to know that you were letting yourself suffer through the pain."

"I wouldn't say I was suffering through it. I just found…home remedies to deal with them so I wouldn't have to take medicine and take a chance." Elise replied. She kept her gaze down, to avoid letting him see the tears that she was sure he knew were there. "I just…can't."

Ranger studied her for several long moments, then nodded. At the moment he knew he wouldn't get through to her, but that didn't mean he wouldn't find a way to help her. He was damned if he was going to let her go through life being afraid of taking any kind of pill because of her birth mother.

"Perhaps you can help with your sister." Ranger said finally. "Cami isn't…reacting well to some things."

"I'm not surprised." Elise ran a hand through her curls. "Ortega excelled at psychological terror. The only reason he resorted to physical was because I pushed him over the edge."

"Cami doesn't want to eat, nor will she respond to her full name." Ranger told her.

Elise smiled softly at her dad. "We both know she's probably dealing with a small dose of PTSD. She should see someone."

He nodded. "Your mother and I have talked about it. We're going to get someone when we go back to Trenton."

"That's good." Elise was trying to figure out where he was going with this. She knew she wasn't around as much as she was going to be, but she was pretty sure when Ranger made a decision, there wasn't too much of a discussion about it.

Ranger leaned over and hugged her. "Munchkin, Mac would be just as proud of you as I am."

"Yeah," Elise let out a large yawn. "He wants you to kick Trev's ass for him because he can't." When he gave her a surprised look, she smiled and held up her dog tags. "He helped me come home."

"I can't wait to tell your mother that I have permission to kick Trevor's ass." Ranger looked entirely too pleased at the prospect.

"You can't kill him." Elise said.

"Who said anything about killing?"

"Dad."

"Elise."

She sighed. "Daddy, you can't do anything to him."

"Munchkin—"

"He's mine, Daddy." Elise said in a small voice. She looked down at her lap, "And I don't want him hurt more than he has to be." She looked back up at Ranger who took a deep breath.

"Do you mean to tell me, I only get to hit Richard?" If it was possible, he looked positively crestfallen at the knowledge that he was not going to get to kick any of the boys' asses.

"Yeah." Elise smiled. "I hope you made it count."

Ranger chuckled and ruffled her hair. "I'd better let everyone in before they break the door down."

When Ranger opened the door, he found not only their family waiting, but Elise's men, and his own men waiting. They didn't even let him finish opening the door before barging in around him and hurrying around Elise.

"Hi, Munchkin," Tank grinned at her. "Good to see those beautiful brown eyes of yours."

Elise chuckled. "Hi, Cheer Bear."

"Captain, your mom is the best!" Billy said with a grin. "You should see the size of the box she delivered to us of Tastykakes."

"Don't worry," Kyle said to her, "We made sure to hide a few for you."

Elise shook her head amused. "Thanks guys." She couldn't help but grin as Trevor sat behind her again, sliding his arms protectively around her. The men all looked back and forth between Trevor and Ranger. Ranger was shooting daggers at Trevor, but Trevor was looking at Elise, clearly not caring what the other man thought.

"Elise, I'm so glad you're awake!" Cami sat down on the other side of the bed. "I need your help."

"Does this have anything to do with Billy and the Baby Manoso thing?" Elise asked.

"Yes. But I'll tell you more when he's not here." Her sister said with a wink.

"Hey!" Billy looked at them nervously. "You're the baby! It was fitting!"

"Keep digging, dude." Darren clapped him on the back. "Your hole is getting deeper and wider by the word."

"Hey, little brother, how are the ribs?" Elise asked when CJ bent down to hug her.

"Better. Dad and the Uncles are letting me spar more."

"Good."

"Yeah, I was thinking I could take you on for a bit." CJ grinned at her as he moved to lean against the wall.

"What is with all my siblings wanting to kick my ass?" Elise demanded.

"How do you know if we want to kick your ass?" Julie asked.

"I saw and heard you." She replied. She pointed at Cami, "You seem to think that because you're taller you can take me. And you," She turned her attention to Julie, "it seems that we have an unfinished conversation from nine years ago to finish."

"Did you hear…everything?" Billy asked nervously.

"Yes." Elise answered. She narrowed her eyes at him. "I heard you guys talking about taking a trip to Vegas. You do remember none of us are allowed in Nevada?"

"Why aren't you allowed in Nevada?" Stephanie asked looking over at her husband. This was taking on a sense of déjà vu.

"It was just a weapons misunderstanding," Billy said evasively.

"That involved some alcohol." Elise growled, "And all of us getting arrested!"

"How many times am I going to have to say sorry for that?" Billy asked.

"Until we're not banned from Nevada." Victor piped in.

"When will that be?" All the men looked at Elise. She shrugged.

"Dad's lawyer was working on it."

Stephanie burst out laughing. "Oh, you didn't! What did he say when you told him?"

Elise sighed. "He couldn't stop laughing for twenty minutes, then said 'Like father, like daughter.' And he said he'd take care of it. Last I checked he was still working on it."

"Aw, so Trevor can't whisk you off Vegas to marry you in a quick romantic getaway?" Cami asked innocently.

"What?" Ranger barked along with all their Uncles.

"I—uh—I didn't propose." Trevor said. Elise was blinking at the sudden turn in conversation.

"You got a problem against marrying my girl?" Ranger demanded folding his arms over his chest. Lester, Tank and Bobby came up behind him, all their arms folded over their chests as well.

"Uh..no?"

"Then why haven't you?"

"There's no winning, is there?" Trevor muttered to Elise. She smiled and shook her head and kissed him.

Facing everyone again, her attention kept coming back to her mother. There was something she was supposed to be asking…"Brownies!"

Everyone stopped talking and looked at her. Stephanie sent her a quizzical look. "Did you want some brownies, sweetheart?"

"No…you and brownies." She rubbed her forehead with her good hand. "You made brownies."

"Elise, are you insane?" CJ demanded giving her a horrified look. "You know we don't let her into the kitchen!"

She shook her head, "No, England. You made brownies in England."

Stephanie stared at her in shock. "How did you know that? None of the boys have talked about that."

"Mac told me. He told me to ask you about the brownies."

Stephanie let out a small laugh at the memory and soon she was holding her sides in all out laughter. "Oh, my. I haven't thought of that in years!" As she calmed down she wiped the tears from her eyes, and took Elise's good hand. "When I was living in England, the guys were training me. I was in a very angry place at the time. They kept training me every day, but eventually they needed a break and I wouldn't give them one. So, one morning they conspired against me and the next thing I knew I found myself tied to a chair with all of them high tailing it out of there to get a break. Well, their training paid off because I didn't spend very much time tied to the chair. John's cook was baking that day. I asked her if I could make some brownies with her. She didn't know my cooking history, and thankfully, luck was on my side with those brownies. I just added on ingredient into it and let her and John know that the only ones who were getting the brownies were the boys."

"What did you put in them?" Elise asked.

Stephanie smiled. "Let's just say they spent several hours in the bathroom afterward."

"Dude…that's…insane." Billy whispered. "I don't know who I admire more now…" He looked between Ranger and Steph.

Everyone burst out laughing.