A/N: hmm...Ranger's been off his A-Game lately. Think he'll start blaming himself for sending Alyssa into, yet another, pit of doom? Thanks again for sticking with me and Alyssa's journey!

Previous Chapter: I grumbled some unintelligent words before stomping off toward the fleet of black SUVs. One pulled up next to me, so I opened the door and slid in. Slamming the door shut, I heard the locks click as I sat back and closed my eyes.

"He can be such a fucking prick sometimes," I muttered and then opened my eyes to turn and see which Merry man was sitting next to me as the car began to pull away from the scene.

But before I could catch who it was, I felt a sharp prick in my neck and before I knew the red faded into black.

Chapter 8

I jolted awake and found my mouth, hands and feet bound. Darkness surrounded me except for the light casting off of the full moon. I shifted from side to side as my limbs met a wall on either side of me. I was lying down on a hard, wooden surface and was about to shout out to the best of my ability when a dark figure loomed over me.

The figure was petite, and then it crouched down and removed its hood letting the moonlight reflect off her pale skin. Yup, you heard it right, my capture was a female.

"Hello, Bombshell Bounty Hunter," she said in an ominous voice.

The woman's face was bony and looked like she'd seen better days.

"You probably don't know who I am," she smirked. "Allow me to give you a hint. You took two men I loved away from me."

I scrunched my nose at her. Unless she was some deranged woman who used to have a serious relationship with Joe, I had no idea who she was and what she was talking about.

"Bitch!" she reached down and grabbed my shirt pulling me up towards her and shouted in my face. "Look at me!"

I shook my head at her trying to apologize for not recognizing her. She let go of me abruptly causing me to fall back and hit my head slightly.

"Of course you don't recognize me," she stood up and paced. "I used to have everything. I used to be beautiful," she waved her hands in the air.

Can we say crazy?

"Then YOU took it all away from me!" she pointed a finger at me accusingly. "First you killed my Pinky," she wept.

Recognition finally dawned on me. It was Janice Cohen, Wesley Stratton's wife and Pinky Lupinsky's lover. My instincts had been right about the stalker having something to do with Pinky. I just never had thought it would've been his former lover.

"Ah so now you recognize me," she smiled. "I loved him, you know? And you had to go and take his life from him."

Well, he kind of deserved it, I thought to myself. He was trying to kill me and he killed several young women before that. But it wasn't me that killed him Stratton was the one that, strangely enough, saved my life and killed Pinky. Little did I know it was to save his own hide.

"Then you took my Wesley!" she screeched.

No I didn't. Stratton was still alive, in prison for a long time, but still alive nonetheless. Several months later, I learned that Stratton was behind a number of illegal activities that was being covered up by his Construction business and he was thrown in the clinker. Pinky and Stratton were not seeing eye-to-eye and Stratton offed Pinky in an attempt to keep him quiet.

But with the help of my best friend Misty and the Merry Men they were able to uncover the truth behind Stratton and he was arrested. As for Janice, the last I heard was that she wasn't coping well and her lavish lifestyle was taken away along with Stratton. Now that I think about it, I thought I heard that she was institutionalized.

"Pinky wasn't enough for you; you had to go and take Wesley too," she began to pace again. "Wes was still good to me even after my infidelity to him. He took care for me…" she trailed off and then went silent for a few minutes.

I worked at the rope around my wrists and tried to loosen them to break free.

"But then you had to go and take him away too!" she boomed as a large heavy object connected with my stomach.

I recoiled and noticed she had smacked me with the underside of a shovel.

"They froze all of his accounts! Took away the house! Took away the cars! Took away everything! I was left with nothing!" she screeched. "I had to lie, cheat and steal everything to get by! You should be grateful to me for your precious gifts! I went through a lot of trouble getting them for you!" she shrieked. "Why do I have to live on the streets and you get to live your life! You deserve to die for the suffering you inflicted on me! You're going to pay for what you did to Pinky!"

I shook my head at her. I wanted to tell her that I would help her. That there's no reason for her to be a crazy lunatic. That we could find a way but instead she produced a long wooden plank and smirked down at me and then it dawned on me. I was inside a wooden casket. She was planning on burying me alive!

"Goodbye, Bombshell. Be sure to tell Pinky I love him," she threw the lid down on me shutting out the light.

I frantically worked at my restraints as tears flowed down my eyes in a panic. This had to be one of the cruelest ways to die. I heard the sound of dirt falling onto the lid. I attempted to push the lid up but it wouldn't budge. I continued to beat on the wood and get out of my restraints until I there was nothing but the sound of my sobs being muffled.

Who would've known that the ex-lover of an ex-FTA would turn crazy and blame me for all of her problems. Maybe Joe was right. He knew all along that this job was going to end up killing me and I didn't listen. If I had agreed to marry him then maybe, I wouldn't be here right now. I'd probably be trying on wedding dresses or deciding the menu for our reception.

My stomach grumbled. I cursed it for having bad timing and for selfishly thinking about food at a time like this. I grew tired of screaming for no good reason because no one was around to hear. So I laid back and waited for the inevitable and thought of what my life could've been if I had accepted Joe's proposal.

We probably would've had a beautiful house and I wouldn't have ever met Deuce and lost my baby. But if I had the baby…Joe would've found out that it was Ranger's. Would he have accepted me and the baby or would he have kicked us out on the street?

Ranger would've set us up in a nice home but most likely be an absentee husband as he is with his daughter from a one night stand whom he rarely mentions. I began to sob and bang on the lid in angst. No matter what decision I made in life, it would've ended up with a horrible outcome. Maybe my family was cursed. Maybe only death and sadness was to become of us.

I calmed back down after throwing myself a mini pity party and let my eyes slowly shut. At least one good thing came from this…I could finally be with my family again. I could feel myself suffocating from the lack of oxygen in my coffin.

I hope that everyone that I care about knows how much I love them…Sorry Misty, we never got to take our girl's trip and I never got my Miami fling experience, I thought as I let the darkness take over me.

^o^ * ^o^

Is this how afterlife is supposed to feel like? — Cold? I felt the coldness blanket me and attempted to open my eyes to see where the next life had decided to take me.

I slowly pried my eyes open as the warmth spread from my lips and a tingle shot through my entire body. I coughed weakly and opened my eyes to stare up as the face of an angel lifted his lips from mine.

The moonlight haloed around his head as I gasped out for air. My angel then crushed me to his chest and cradled me as he stroked my back. This wasn't another life. And my angel wasn't an angel…it was Ranger. He was holding onto me like his life depended on it.

I'm pretty sure after death, I wouldn't be feeling pain but I was dizzy and my lungs burned but I managed to croak out, "Ranger?"

"I thought I lost you, Quierda," he said softly into my hair.

"Did I turn into Sleeping Beauty somehow?" I joked before closing my eyes…I was so tired.

^o^ * ^o^

"She's waking up," a tiny voice filled my ears as I blinked my eyes and tried to focus.

I felt a pair of tiny hands grasp mine and squeeze. The first thing I saw was a bob of poofy hair bouncing up and down.

I smiled and softly replied, "Mia."

"Auntie Alyssa!" she cried out enthusiastically and threw her arms around me. "You saved our lives and then the Power Rangers saved your life!"

I started to cough as I laughed at her reference to the Merry Men as the Power Rangers. I guess my referral to them as the Merry Men isn't any better.

Binkie quickly grabbed a cup of water and held the straw up to my dry chapped lips. I loved how incredibly resilient this girl was. Going from losing her mother to her crazed father trying to kill her and still she was able to put a smile on her face. She talked my ear off until it was time for them to say goodbye.

I had my usual rotation of Merry Men come and visit but Binkie stayed by my side not moving in silence the entire time. Finally, when we were alone, I turned my head and looked at him. He looked worn and tired. His brilliant blue eyes were almost a dull gray.

I reached out and stroked his cheek, "What happened?"

He shook his head and held my hand to his lips and kissed it. "It took over an hour for Ranger to even realize that you weren't with us. When we returned to Rangeman and couldn't locate you in the missing Rangeman vehicle but there was no missing vehicle and the control room accounted for every vehicle that returned to the garage bay. Ram said he saw you get in the car and leave the scene. It wasn't until then that we realized that you'd gotten into a vehicle that wasn't one of ours."

"How did you find me then?"

"I placed a tracker on you before you left," he hung his head in shame. "After everything that's happened, Alyssa."

I squeezed his hand to let him know it was ok. After all, he saved my life.

"Wait, did you catch her?" It suddenly dawned on me that they probably didn't know who kidnapped me.

He nodded, "Yeah, Janice Cohen's in police custody. Hector and Ram stopped by your apartment after you were emitted into the hospital to get some clues and found her passed out in your bed. She ate most of your food, took a shower and helped herself to your clothes."

I scrunched my nose and began thinking of all the things I needed to burn after I got home.

He shifted uncomfortably, "Ranger was here earlier. Les got him to leave since he was being disruptive."

I couldn't imagine Ranger being disruptive. He was the essence of calm and controlled but I had no reason to question Binkie. Besides, Ranger's not my problem, right?

"I need to head out in a few minutes. I have a shift starting soon."

I nodded realizing he's probably spent all of his free time in this room with me. "You need to get some rest too," I stroked his cheek.

"I'll start sleeping when you stop giving me reasons to keep me up at night," he smiled and suddenly looked at me seriously grabbing my hand. "Alyssa, I know that Ranger's back and I know this isn't any of my business. I care about you." He gulped back looking nervous which was such a rare expression for a Merry Man. "I want you to be careful." He gave me a kiss milimeters from my lips and lingered his breath against my cheek for a beat.

My heart pumped uncontrollably as I watched him stand up and leave. This day has been way too exciting even for someone like me…