A/N...
I want to thank you all so much! I have loved all of your reviews and comments more than I can say! It has been a great experience sharing this story with you! Although this chapter is not quite complete, it is what I can give you for now. I hope you can be patient with me. My husband is in the CCU in the hospital with an infection. Real life it taking over for a while. But I will be finishing the story, it may just take a few more days before I can get back to it. Thanks for understanding. See you soon.
Sandra.
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Standard FF disclaimers apply.
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I Need You. Determination
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Harsh sunlight streamed in through the kitchen window. Helen sat looking helplessly at her mother who was sitting across from her with the phone receiver in her hand. Taking a deep breath, she stood and grabbed the phone and slammed it into its cradle on the wall. Once again she sank back into her chair closing her eyes to the glare of the sun hitting her full in the face.
Gossip in the burg was something that was hard… no, it was impossible to get around. Helen had had more than her fair share of stories circulating about the members of her family. Particularly about Stephanie. She almost understood the fascination and the nearly morbid curiosity that people seemed to have about her job that resulted in Stephanie dragging in some horrible people to the police station or having one car after another blowing up. After all it was not your normal run of the mill job. But it had always made Helen so angry, these stories going around made it look like Stephanie was some kind of bumbling amateur. Didn't they know that these things happening to her were real? That her daughter was in danger when they happened? She could have been killed any number of times. Didn't they care? She could feel the ire inside of her growing,filling her chest with an increasing pressure. She had put up with these rumors for so long.
Well, now Helen was just pissed off. For days now, rumors were circulating about the spending spree that Stephanie had gone on before the arrival of her new son. The gossip grapevine was full of malicious questions about her daughter. Who had knocked her up? How far along is she? She was not married was she? What kind of lifestyle had she been leading? Hadn't she ever heard of birth control? Would being pregnant require her to leave her job? Was that why she quit? And on and on.
Well-meaning friends were keeping her informed of all these horrible things that were being said, and Helen had had enough. She would not say one word in response. Not even to these 'friends' who kept calling. As far as Helen was concerned, if they were talking about it, they were not her friends nor were they Stephanie's friends.
The people who needed to know the situation, did. Pure and simple. Everyone else could go to hell! Helen finally did something that she had been meaning to do for a very long time. She took the Buick and drove over to the Quaker Bridge mall. In front of anyone who wanted to see, she picked out a cell phone. In fact she bought three of them. She knew that it would be next to impossible to get these numbers, since they would not be listed in the phone book. 'Good luck trying to get through to me now' she triumphantly thought as she drove home. The very first call made from her new cell phone was the one to the phone company to discontinue service on the land-line that she had already ripped out of the wall.
"Proud of you, mom!" Stephanie said, almost laughing out loud when Helen called to give her the cellphone numbers. She had been suggesting this very thing for the longest time now. It was good to see that the message had finally gotten through. This would simplify things so much for her parents, not to mention her grandma. She couldn't be more pleased with the change.
As for the rumors, Stephanie had taken herself out of the loop when she quit Vinnie's. She was now surrounded by people who loved her and who would protect her from the gossip mill. Unlike the girls at the bond office, none of her friends here would even think of repeating the things that they no doubt heard every day. They knew that, not only were they not true, but that it would hurt Stephanie to hear them. And they would not allow that to happen.
Until this call from her mother, Stephanie had not even thought about the gossip that seemed to follow her around everywhere. She had not missed it, and when it occurred to her that the guys had been shielding her from it all, tears came to her eyes. It was not as if she needed one, but here was yet another reason that she loved her RangeMan family so much.
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"He is one of us!" he stated firmly. Without knocking, Rodriguez walked right into Tank's office and handed him a piece of paper. "You were right and Silvio confirmed it," he said pointing to the paper that Tank now held in his hands.
"Damn," Tank said slowly while reading the information. "He was a legend," he said in a voice filled with the reverence of respect. "We all knew about 'Vapour' when we were in the Rangers." Tank sank back in his big leather chair. He stared at the page no longer seeing what was printed there. Stories of the incredible missions that Vapour had led were coming to the front of his mind. The guy was a chameleon, adapting to every situation, blending in so completely he nearly disappeared. That ability had earned him the nickname. In one form or another, every one of the Rangers that he knew had learned something from Vapour, even his good friend Ranger.
As much as he'd had a thought in the back of his mind that he was right, never had he imagined that it was someone like this that they had found. Tank let his lips curve into a smile. Good to know that the ol' instincts are still working! He'd had a feeling about Tom from the first moment that they had met.
"How deep undercover is he?" Tank asked, tossing the paper to the desk. "Are we going to be ruining anything by meeting them at the airport"
Suddenly it was even more important than ever to get this right. As much as they needed to help Tom, they were also hoping for some of his help as well. The work that Gene had been doing had uncovered some unbelievable data, with a little help from Stephanie's uncanny ability to see the finest details. But now that they had some answers, it was even more imperative that the doctors knew what they were up against.
They could only guarantee a positive outcome of this situation if they all worked together. Up to this point, Tank had done his best to keep the doctors protected. Now he would see it through and get them the best care that he could.
Ella and Louis had already helped to prepare one of the RangeMan safehouses closeby in Trenton. But now Tank was not sure if he wanted them even that far away. He hated to do it, but he was going to have to ask Ella to get the vacant apartment here in the building ready. Now that he thought about it, he knew that keeping them close would be best. It couldn't hurt to have them here where Bobby would be on the premises and available anytime they needed him.
With less than a couple of hours to go, Tank made some final decisions and started the preparations for the arrival of Drs Taylor and Dutton. The flight would be arriving close to midnight. And now the team was getting ready. They would be there, in plain clothes, to blend in. The doctors would be whisked away from the airport as quickly as possible. But Tank would not be able to rest until they were safely in the building.
Drawing a large hand over his face, he nearly groaned. He knew that the men were going to be near exhaustion by the time they got here. He felt bad about that. But it had been a necessary move to create the unpredictable flight plans to shake the tail that Tank had seen following the doctors in DC. He was pretty sure that it had worked. But they would only know for certain after they were home from the airport.
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Military style canvas bags all look the same. At least they did to Stephanie. The ones Ranger used were always black, of course, with straps and zippers everywhere. With her first glance at it, she thought that it seemed to be bigger than most, but other than that, it looked pretty standard. Ranger noticed immediately that this one now sitting on the couch was not one of his. In fact, with just one look he seemed to know a lot more about it that she would have thought possible.
They had not seen the bag when they had returned to the apartment earlier, their focus had been in the kitchen, with Julie on the computer. Now that they moved into the living room to relax, the big black bag demanded all of their attention.
Ranger approached the bag slowly. He actually knew that the contents could prove to be an emotional time bomb, not just for Stephaine, but for himself as well. Tank had told him what he had found in Tiputini. In light of the letters that they had both read from Maria, he was not sure how much this was going to affect them.
Stephanie seemed to notice his hesitation. "I think that I will put this sleepy boy to bed," she said as she stood to walk toward the bedroom. He reached out and gently pulled her to him and kissed Mat's forehead.
"Goodnight mi hijito," he said softly. Then he kissed Stephanie's cheek, smiling at her and simply nodding his head as she left. Then he turned back to the bag. He grabbed the zipper tab and haltingly pulled it, to open the top of the bag. By the time he had spread the sides apart, Stephanie had returned, she sat down by his side.
"What have you got there?" she asked, noting the concerned look in his face. Ranger's hand hovered over the bag, seemingly suspended in motion. It was beginning to worry Stephanie. She reached out and took his hand in hers, pulling it toward her lap. "What's wrong Carlos?" she asked quietly.
He turned his head to look into her concerned eyes. He mentally kicked himself for acting so uncertain about this. Everything about this was unusual, but that did not mean that he should have made her so anxious. He attempted a smile, and leaned in to give her a soft kiss.
"We have a few things that Maria left behind with her friends," he said softly. He watched as her eyes widened. He was wondering what she would be thinking about all of this, and just as he was about to ask, she surprised him again.
"That's great, this will be a chance to get to know Maria a little bit better..." she said. It was not exactly a question. She said it with a trace of wonder in her voice. "Do you know what is in there?" she asked.
A soft, warmth spread throughout him. That was exactly right, she had seen just what this could mean to them. Maybe with that attitude, this would not be nearly as upsetting as he had imagined it could be. Ranger lifted their joined hands and kissed her knuckles. He nodded.
"Tank told me about it, lets see what we have," he said, lightening his mood and gently lifting out the small blanket that was folded on top.
Woven in earthy shades of brown and muted greens, the soft blanket had symmetrical patterns of leafy vines intricately woven throughout. Stephanie drew in a slow breath that she seemed to hold as she looked on in appreciation.
"Its amazing," she said as she let the breath escape. As she was taking in the beautiful design and the hand dyed colors of the yarns that had been used, she saw something glint in the light. She turned the blanket over.
"What is that on the corner?" she asked, pointing to a small paper pinned to the blanket.
Now it was Ranger's turn to hold in a breath as he unfastened the note and read the words scribbled on the scrap of paper.
"Maria made this," he said. "The note was from her mother in law, telling her that she had learned the techniques well," he swallowed before continuing. "And that she was so proud of the beautiful job she had done."
Stephanie nodded and smoothed her hand over the soft fibers. "She probably made this for Mat," she said with wonder in her voice. "Before…" she stopped, unable to finish that thought.
Kissing her cheek, Ranger pulled Stephanie close and held her. No matter what, this was going to be emotional. Maybe this was not the right time to do this.
"We can wait until another time… he started to say, but she was shaking her head.
"No, we should do this now," she said, and motioned to him to get the next item from the bag. She watched him closely as he pulled out a worn leather satchel. It might be hard to think of the things that happened to her, but Maria deserved for Mat to have these things that obviously meant so much to her
He handed it to her. It was full, so she began to pull things out one by one. She set several pouches of varying sizes on the coffee table. A wooden box and a bundle of pens and pencils were next. Carefully she checked the pockets in the lining of the bag. Several more things joined the others on the table.
Together they examined the items that were so carefully collected in the bag. The Jewelry, the hair clips, the money. Stephanie looked it all over, and she had to think that Maria had been keeping everything that she owned with her in the bag. She placed it all in the bag and handed it back to Ranger.
He pulled out a few more things and laid them on the table. Stephanie opened up the larger blanket and was amazed at the intricacy of the design. Stylized patterns depicted a scene by a river. A large moon hung in the sky above and a large water lily was centered in the water.
"Oh, look at this," she whispered. After one glance, Ranger recognized the scene. The legend had been in one of Maria's collections of special stories. Her notes to Mat told him that this legend was special to his home. Water Lilies were prized for their beauty and their place in the folk lore. Even the name 'Estrellita' came from this tale about the special flower. It was no wonder that this would be the subject of many works of art. He smiled and turned to Stephanie.
"Would you like to hear a story?" he asked her with a smile. He related the legend of the star princess and her warrior moon. Directing her attention to the design on the blanket more than once. Stephanie was mesmerized by the poignant tale. She imagined that it was a bedtime story that had been told many times through the generations in the village. She knew that it was going to be a story that she and Ranger would tell to Mat.
After the telling of the tale was done, Stephanie turned to look at Ranger. "There are some beautiful treasures here," she finally said. "But nothing here is as precious or valuable as the history that Maria left for Mat."
Ranger couldn't agree more. Maria's love and her fighting spirit were Mat's inheritance. They would carefully save these items for him, but learning the stories of his family and appreciating the legends of his homeland would be the much more valuable.
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