Welcome to a new story that was supposed to be a oneshot but now definitely is not. I am still writing the ending, but wanted to get as much of it out before the end of the year as possible, so I will be posting daily until it's done (and hopefully finishing the ending in the meantime). I currently have 6 chapters completed with another 2 to go.

The story was loosely inspired by the song Baby, It's Cold Outside, but soon took on a life of its own.

Cold Comfort

Chapter 1

"Bomber!" Hal called in welcome the second the elevator doors opened on the fifth floor, revealing a subtly festive office space, the sight of which warmed my heart and sloughed away some of the worry filling my chest.

All around me were little acts of Christmas rebellion that would have been outright banned years ago: Cal's mug that boldly proclaimed he was on Santa's naughty list, the basket of candy canes by the monitors station, a paperweight in the shape of a little red truck hauling a christmas tree holding down a stack of in-progress files on Hank's desk, a string of coloured lights wrapped around the doorway that lead to the breakroom. But it was Hal's red Santa hat weaving through the cubicles toward me that brought a grin to my face despite the heavy weight of anxiety churning my stomach.

"And Frankie!" he added, his smile expanding when he emerged into the empty space in front of the elevators and spotted Francesca clinging to my coat where she stood half hidden behind me, barely visible but for her frizzy curls springing out from under the knit cap she'd yet to remove from her head. "Merry Christmas, Frankie!" Hal exclaimed, bending down so he was at her level even as he kept a carefully considerate distance.

I nudged her ahead of me to exit the elevator, our movements inhibited by her hesitance as we closed some of the distance, and I let out a mental sigh. It had been too long since I'd brought her to visit her Range-Uncles and she'd retreated back into her shell. "Can you say Merry Christmas to Uncle Hal?" I prompted.

"Mewwy Chwistmas, Uncle How," she mumbled dutifully, eyeing the man warily.

"Thank you, brave girl," I murmured, adjusting my hold on my bag and our coats so I could lay a comforting hand on her shoulder. It had been a big day already, and I doubted the change in routine coming here made would be helping matters. Even just this small interaction with Hal was a win in my books considering she still got shy around her teachers, and she saw them every day.

Turning my attention back to Hal, I lifted my free arm to accept the hug I knew was coming. "Merry Christmas, Hal."

He squeezed me tight, his brotherly love melting some of the jagged icicles filling my chest that had been making it difficult to breathe all day. The fact that I would always be welcome here was more comforting than they would ever know. Especially right now.

"Have you come to join us for the Rangeman Christmas party?" he asked as he slowly released me, sending a grin down to where Frankie had inched out from behind me just a little more, peeking up at him.

I sincerely hoped the panic and surprise that shot through me didn't show on my face. Of course I'd received the email invitation from Lester a few weeks ago, but with everything else going on in my life at the moment, I'd completely forgotten about it. I didn't even think I'd RSVP'd. Here's hoping Ella stayed true to form and cooked and baked enough to feed a small army, so there would be plenty to cover us if we did end up staying for the party. Thankfully, Frankie was still in her Christmas dress from her pre-k concert this afternoon, and I'd donned my good black skirt with a red sparkly sweater. We at least looked the part, even if I wasn't in the mood for celebrating.

Plastering on a smile, I nodded. "We wouldn't miss it for the world."

There was a smattering of manly, vaguely approving noises from the nearby cubicles as I plucked Frankie's hat off her head and stuffed it in my bag, tucking some of the fly-aways behind her ear, and rubbing at a smudge of something that might have been chocolate on her cheek for something to do while I asked Hal the question that my life might very well depend on. I tried to keep my tone casual though. No point in alerting the guys prematurely. "Hey, is Ranger in?" I tossed over my shoulder glancing down the hall toward his closed office door.

Hal made a face as I straightened. "You just missed him. He's out on a job."

I nodded my understanding and tried not to bite my lip as I reached for my daughter's hand. "I'm gonna take Frankie on the Grand Range-Uncle tour to say hello to everyone," I said. "Are you in a position to let me know when he gets back?"

"I'll let the guys on monitors know," he promised, nodding toward where Zip and Zero sat in front of a bank of eight screens, their gazes roving over them in what appeared to be a choreographed dance. There were more screens with more men monitoring them down on three, across the hall from Hector's lair, but Ranger liked to keep the monitors hub on the main command floor active both as a convenience for when they had unfolding events they were keeping an eye on, and out of posterity, a nod to the earliest days of Rangeman when everything was done out of a rented, one-room office space with dodgy air conditioning. And he tried to tell me he wasn't a sentimental man…

"That's okay," I assured Hal, urging Frankie forward once more. "We'll start our tour there so I can ask them myself."

Once we'd taken a few steps away from Hal, I leaned down next to my daughter's ear so I could whisper conspiratorially, "I bet if you asked Uncle Zip nicely he'll share one of his candy canes with you." I said it loud enough that the Merry Man in question could hear and was rewarded not only with Frankie's cheeky smile emerging from the serious expression she'd held since we arrived, but by the subtle cheek and ear shift I noticed on Zip from the rear angle of our approach indicating that he, too, was smiling.

He tapped the desk to signal to Zero that his attention would be averted just before we reached his side, and when Frankie laid a tentative hand on his arm, he turned twinkling blue eyes on her.

"Hey there, squirt," he greeted, and waited expectantly for the question I'd primed them both for. When all she did was stare up at him with her wide, brown eyes, and her bottom lip disappearing between her teeth, he added, "To what do we owe the pleasure of your company?"

It was the perfect opening for her to ask for the candy, and her eyes even darted briefly to the pure sugar waiting on the desk beside her, but what came out of her mouth caused my heart to stop. "Mama said we can't go home."

I did my best to keep the panic seizing my chest from appearing on my face or seeping into my voice as I forced out a laugh. "Until we visit with all your Range-Uncles," I told Frankie, like it was a reminder of the rest of a statement she was parroting and had neglected to divulge to Zip. Of all the ways to shrug off her shyness, she chose the very real statement I was hoping to hide from the guys at least until I'd had a chance to talk to Ranger.

The raised eyebrow Zip sent me let me know I hadn't been entirely successful in sounding natural, but he thankfully decided not to say anything about it, turning his attention back to Frankie.

My heart resumed beating, but instead chose the extreme opposite end of the spectrum and decided to beat so fast I started to feel a little light headed.

"Sounds like you've got a big afternoon ahead of you," Zip informed my daughter, digging his hand into the candy cane basket while I focused on taking a couple of slow breaths. "You've seen, what, two Range-Uncles?" He glanced at Zero in the seat beside him. "Three?" Removing his hand from the basket, he tapped two candy canes against his chin, an exaggeratedly thoughtful expression on his face. He appeared oblivious to the way Frankie's hands came up to accept one of the candies, but I knew better than to assume such things. The guys noticed everything.

That realisation countered the calming effect of the breathing I'd been doing to slow my pulse, another icicle solidifying and jabbing at my lung. Coming here might have been a mistake.

"By my count you've got at least twenty-five to go," Zip continued, seemingly unaware of my silent apprehension. He looked down at his empty hand, wiggling the fingers, then reached down to gently tug Frankie's back into view. "Not enough fingers," he muttered with a mock frown. He spun his chair a quarter turn and pointed to the closest cubicle with one of the candy canes. "If you take this over to Uncle Binkie, you can probably get him to print you a Range-Uncle checklist to keep track of how many you've seen and how many still to go."

Frankie nodded eagerly, accepting the candy cane for Binkie, but instead of skipping off on her new quest, she zeroed in on the other candy cane in Zip's hand as he started unwrapping it.

"Uncle Zip?" she asked timidly, taking a step closer to him once more.

He stuck the end of the sugary treat in his own mouth, sucking appreciatively. "Mmm?"

"Can I pwease have a candy cane?" she finally asked.

A grin broke forth on his face. "Course you can, squirt!" He grabbed the basket off the desk and brought it down between them as he leaned his elbows on his knees. "What kind do you want? We've got minty - " he pointed to the traditional red and white canes - "and fruity." He moved his finger to hover over the array of pink, yellow, green, blue and purple canes on the other side of the basket.

"Fwuity, pwease," she requested, and Zip explained the fruity flavours to her, picking out a pink strawberry one together. She handed it to him to open for her then looked up at me, something serious behind her contemplative expression that made my stomach clench. I couldn't deal with her sprouting any more painful truths just yet. I'd thought I could leave Frankie with Ella or the guys while I spoke to Ranger, but that look, combined with her virtually-unprompted announcement that we couldn't go home gave me pause. There was no telling what she would spill if left to her own devices.

Let alone what the Merry Men could get out of her given the right motivation.

"Can Mama have one?" she asked, and when Zip nodded, she held up her candy cane to me. "Fwuity, Mama?" Pointing to Zip's she added. "Oh minty?"

I smiled as best I could through the relief that washed over me, trying to reassure her, the guys and myself that everything was fine. "Minty, please."

She plucked an appropriately coloured cane and passed it to me before turning and pointing her spare in the general direction Zip had indicated. "Uncle Binkie?"

Zip adjusted her trajectory just as the man himself rolled his chair back from his desk, poking his head out into the walkway. "What's up, Frankster? Long time, no see."

Frankie scurried off to make her request, leaving me with Zip's heavy scrutinising gaze and no adorable preschoolers to distract him with.

"Everything okay?" he asked.

"Fine." I sent him another smile. "Could you let me know when Ranger is back? I need to talk to him."

There was still a hint of concern in the questioning tilt to his brows, but he nodded. "Can do."

"Thanks, Zip." I moved to follow my daughter, but halted, my body tensing when he laid a hand on my forearm to keep my attention for another minute. My knee-jerk reaction betrayed me, and even though I immediately squashed it down, relaxing my muscles as I reminded myself I was safe here - we were safe here - the way Zip snatched his hand away made it clear it hadn't gone unnoticed.

Fuck.

"It's good to see you both here," he said, proceeding with his reasons for recapturing my attention even as he carefully scanned my face. His gaze continued down to encompass my whole being and I fought the urge to wrap my arms protectively around myself as he added, "We've missed your visits."

"I've missed you too," I murmured, really meaning it. There was no way, even with his obvious perception skills, that he could know how relieved I was to be here. To see their friendly faces and know without a doubt that I was welcome. Wanted. Safe.

Because that was the promise Ranger had made when I called him up the night before the wedding in a flat panic. "Rangeman is your family as much as it is mine," he'd quietly assured me. "They'll always be here for you. No matter what happens."

Zip looked like he wanted to say more, so I took Binkie's reappearance, scooting down the walkway toward the printer on his office chair with Frankie in his lap, as my cue to move on. "I'd better make sure they don't get into too much mischief," I explained, hurrying away after my daughter and her accomplice. While I was grateful it had taken almost no time for her to warm back up to the guys, they tended to get a little silly with her, and I didn't exactly relish the look on Ranger's face when he discovered there were gummy worms stuck to the ceiling of the breakroom… again.

Best to keep the antics to a minimum this visit.

By the time I caught up to them, they'd retrieved the printing Binkie had sent through and had scooted over to one of the cubicles that was currently unoccupied and were debating which marker colour to steal from the pen cup by the computer. Binkie was offering red and green, because they were Christmas colours, and Frankie was pouting that there were no pink markers available. Personally, I was wondering if there was a non-permanent option available.

"Come on, Frankster," Binkie cajoled, "Green's a good substitute for pink."

She screwed up her nose at him, crossing her arms over her chest and crumpling the paper slightly in the process. "Not gween," she insisted. "Pink!"

Glancing into the next cubicle - also currently unoccupied - I spotted the perfect solution. Not permanent, and the right colour to satisfy my stubborn daughter. "What about this one?" I asked, waving the pink highlighter in front of her. "Is this pink enough?"

She squealed and I let her snatch it from my grasp, flattening her checklist on the table in front of her and leaning in to pour over it, searching for the faces she'd already seen. I leaned in too to see what Binkie had managed to put together in the mere minutes he'd had with Frankie before they'd hit print and was shocked to find a fully-styled document with each Merry Man's face spread out in a two page grid with their names and a check box under it. At the top of the page was a Rangeman logo that had been modified to say Range-Uncles instead

"You pulled this together in less than two minutes?" I asked Binkie as he pointed to his own face on the page and Frankie put a big pink tick under it.

He smirked up at me. "Nah, after the last couple of Range-Uncle Tours when the same guys got a visit and a whole bunch of 'em got missed both times, Hank decided to put together the checklist so Frankie could distribute her love more evenly. He saved it on OneDrive so we could all access it in case of an impromptu visit like today."

I shook my head, but couldn't help the smile that tipped the corners of my lips up. It was things like this that made me love the guys so much. But the evidence of how much they clearly loved Frankie's visits added a slice of guilt to the other emotions bubbling in my gut, making me feel sick.

Sicker…

"I'm going to put our coats in the breakroom," I said, trying to disguise the deep breath I wanted to suck in. "Are you going to be okay with Uncle Binkie for a few minutes?"

Frankie whipped her head up, all her teeth showing in a wide smile, the hooked end of her candy cane sticking out from between them. "Yep!" She lifted her page to show me and pointed to Lester's face. "Uncle Wester?"

Binkie took the paper from her with a shake of his head. "No, no, no. You visited Uncle Lester last time. Besides he's busy downstairs with Ella setting up for the party. You can see him later. Let's focus on some of these guys for now." He pointed to the part of the grid that listed some of the guys that I wasn't as close with and we therefore had less to do with when we visited. He stood from the office chair, taking Frankie with him then turned and deposited her on the chair by herself. "You sit here in the tour bus, and I'll take you around."

And with that, they were off down the walkway heading in the opposite direction I was about to go. "Be good!" I called after them, but the cackling laughter that drifted back to me wasn't comforting. "They'll be fine," I muttered to myself, as they disappeared around a corner. "I trust the guys." The reminder wrapped warmly around my mind, soothing the spike of anxiety being separated from Frankie invoked. "No one can get to us here."

"I should hope not," a deep voice agreed from directly behind me, startling me so badly that I not only dropped everything I was holding as I spun to face him, but I managed to trip over my own feet, stumbling backwards in a last ditch effort to put some distance between me and the new comer as I went down. The impact of my ass on the floor was hard and jolted painfully up my spine, but I managed to catch myself on my hands so I didn't fall all the way and hit my head. A concussion, or even just a headache, was the absolute last thing I needed right now.

"Shit!" Bobby exclaimed, surging forward to help me back to my feet. I let him, even though my heart was once again beating a rapid tattoo. "Are you okay?"

Rather than give an immediate, flippant response, I took a moment to take stock of my body. The shock of the impact was ebbing and there didn't seem to be any serious pain lingering anywhere. "I'm fine," I assured him. "You really should know better than to sneak up on people like that."

He sent me a lopsided grin. "Wasn't sneaking," he pointed out. "I heard Frankie was here and I wanted to get in line for my fist bump." Even when we'd been visiting regularly, Frankie had gotten overwhelmed with the number of guys all wanting to scoop her up into a bear hug, so the guys had started asking her for fist bumps instead and letting Frankie take the lead with who she wanted to offer a hug to. And probably, if there was a venn diagram of the guys she routinely visited when we stopped by Rangeman and the guys she tended to offer hugs to when she was feeling brave and comfortable, it would almost look like a single circle.

"Binkie's taking her to visit the less popular uncles," I explained, accepting my handbag when Bobby stooped to pick it up.

He grabbed our coats at the same time, but didn't hand them over when I reached for them. Instead, he took my hand and wrapped it into the crook of his elbow. "Allow me to escort you to the breakroom for coffee, then," he offered as we started walking side by side. "You look like you haven't slept in a week. Why don't you take advantage of Range Uncle Babysitting services and take a load off?"

"Does Ella still set up a hot chocolate bar in the winter months?" I asked hopefully, distracting the unhappy churn of my stomach at the mention of coffee with a more palatable option.

"You betcha," Bobby confirmed as we approached the fairy light adorned door. "You go sit down, I'll fix you a hot chocolate just the way you like it. Extra marshmallows and whipped cream, right?"

I nodded on my way to the couch, the thought of sitting for a few minutes more and more appealing the closer I got. Bobby's assessment of my appearance wasn't far off the mark. My sleep recently had been such a low quality that it barely felt worth it to lie down. The second I closed my eyes my mind played a montage of terrifying situations, some of them real from my memories, some of them horrible predictions. I would wake up in a cold sweat, panic pinching off my screams, leaving me mute. And the strong arms that wrapped around me, pulling me into a hug and rubbing soothing circles on my back as he murmured comforting words into my hair did nothing to calm the fear seizing me in a vice-like grip.

Rinse and repeat several times a week, and add in bouts of insomnia and I was exhausted. Putting on nice clothes and covering up the dark circles under my eyes had taken more energy that I really had spare to expend today, but I didn't have a choice. My daughter needed me. It was her first time performing in a christmas concert, and I'd promised her Mama would be there.

The fact that her father hadn't been there to cheer her on was both frustrating and a relief. An opportunity for the taking. The opportunity I'd needed to make my move. And now we were here.

Settling onto the couch, I kicked my boots up onto the coffee table and leaned my head back against the cushions, closing my eyes briefly until I sensed more than heard Bobby's approach, although he was making more noise than he had out on the main floor.

"Thanks, Bobby." I smiled as I reached up to take the mug in both hands, bringing it straight to my lips to take a slow sip. The smooth warmth melted away the pointed ends of some of the lingering icicles in my chest, and I let out a contented sigh as Bobby sat down beside me.

"Wanna talk about why you look like you don't know what sleep is?" he asked, peering at me over the rim of his own mug of steaming hot liquid. It looked like it was probably coffee and while I would have loved to indulge and experience at least a semblance of energy for a while, the way my stomach had rejected the last coffee I'd had a few days ago, coupled with the threat in the way it flipped at the mention earlier gave me pause.

Tears burned behind my eyes as I recalled the reason, but I couldn't let them fall. Not yet; it would just freak Bobby out. So I took another slow sip of my hot chocolate, closing my eyes like I was savouring the moment instead of forcing back the emotions simmering too close to the surface. "The holidays are always a stressful time of year," I said vaguely.

He nodded agreement. "True, but my medic instincts are telling me there's more to it."

Of course they were. Because there was more to it. There was so much more to it. There was an entire seven novel, eight movies and a Netflix special series worth of backstory to how I'd gotten to where I was: feeling like shit and scared for my life and the life of my daughter. There was only one man I wanted to talk to about what was happening, though, and unfortunately, Bobby wasn't him.

"I came to talk to Ranger," I said on a sigh, leaning my head back against the cushions again, and rolling it to the side so I could meet Bobby's gaze. "I… He…" Averting my gaze again as the burning sensation returned behind my eyes, I finally managed the simplest truth I had without revealing my problems. "I just really need to talk to him."

Bobby's eyes were like a heavy weight, covering me like a blanket, taking in every detail of my appearance and cataloging in the patient file he had for me in his head. Probably, after all the years I'd spent injuring myself and refusing to go to the hospital unless it was absolutely necessary, he could list off my full medical history by heart. I wouldn't be surprised if he even had all the details of my ante- and postnatal care from when I had Frankie stored away in that brain of his.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him check his watch, then glance toward the door. "Ranger isn't expected back until the party in an hour," he explained quietly. "Why don't you close your eyes and try to catch a few winks while you wait?"

I frowned at him, giving him a look that was probably identical to the ones Frankie gave me when I suggested she needed a nap. "I'm my own nap captain, Bobby," I told him, rather than following my daughter's example further and trying to point out that I was a big girl. Besides, the thought of sleeping here where anyone could approach me, even knowing that the only people inside the building were the ones Ranger allowed to be here, had me tensing unhelpfully again.

He sent me a look like he knew where my thoughts were, and didn't like it one bit. "Humour me," he requested. "Close your eyes and try to relax. I'll stay right here and make sure no one interrupts. Even if you don't fall asleep, the rest will do you good."

I tried to protest further, but the yawn that possessed me made any arguments I might have tried to make invalid, a point Bobby made clear by silently raising an eyebrow at me when I finally snapped my jaw shut a moment later. "Fine," I conceded, taking one last sip of my hot chocolate and setting the mug on the coffee table. "But promise you'll wake me if Frankie needs me, or if Ranger gets back early."