Protecting the King Ch 15 Epilogue

~ ~ Stephanie ~ ~ 12 hours post-takedown

The pain in her head, throbbing in time with the lazy thumping of her heart, dragged Stephanie into consciousness. Her awareness expanded through her body as other aches made themselves known. She pictured those ballet-dancing hippos practicing their leaps on her back because why else would it feel like that? Her shoulder felt as if it had been wrenched from its socket. Both knees and one ankle were sore and the heels of her hands were burning. Like her head, everything throbbed with the rhythm of her heartbeat. She felt hot and cold at the same time. The chemical smell of antiseptic cleansers scratched her nose with every intake of breath, a smell she recognized as the hospital.

Hospital. The word swirled through her sluggish brain, lifting her farther into wakefulness, though her eyelids were clamped shut, beyond her power to move. She wiggled her fingers in tiny increments, trying to figure out which hand had the IV in the back of it. Probably the left. Her mouth was so dry that her tongue stuck to the roof. Trying to peel it off made a weird, dry, flapping sound.

The whisper of a soft-soled boot on tile came from her right. The air stirred as someone moved closer and she caught the scent of citrus and spice that she associated with Hector.

"Hola, cariño." Hector's voice was as gentle as his touch as he took her hand in his. "Can you open your eyes for me?"

Redoubling her efforts, she managed to get her eyelids halfway up. She almost complained about the lights being too bright then realized they were off. As dim as it was in the room, she could see every bit of worry and relief on his face.

A croaking noise and a noxious smell came out of her mouth when she tried to speak. The head of the bed was raised enough to keep her from being flat on her back, but Hector pressed the control to lift it higher.

Holding a small paper cup with a bendy straw in front of her, he smiled. "You know the drill. Sips only. Let it soak in your mouth before you swallow."

As she sipped, the brain fog cleared. She remembered passing out in the boat and coming to again when Bones was examining her. Ranger hovered a few feet away watching as closely as he could while talking to Dumas. His attention was split between her and the op that he was in charge of. He had the extreme version of his blank face in place and the muscles in his jaw kept clenching. As much as she wanted him there next to her for comfort and to lend her his strength, he had a job to do. Part of their Someday would have to entail compartmentalizing work and play.

Right now, this was work and she was here as an employee. If Zip or Hal had gotten injured, Ranger would make sure they went to the medic on-scene then continue his duties as leader. Hell, even if it was his cousin Lester, who was like a brother to him, that had been hurt, Ranger would treat him the same as Zip or Hal. More importantly, Lester would expect no different and neither should she.

"I'm in good hands," she told Ranger, though the slurring of her words made the phrase less reassuring than she'd hoped. "Go. Do what you gotta."

Maybe she imagined it, but it seemed that his face went from ultra-blank to ordinary shit-went-down blank. At least his jaw quit clenching. About then she noticed Morelli also hovering in the background. In addition to cop-face and tooth grinding, he kept rubbing at his chest. Must be the heartburn acting up.

She tried to wave one hand at Morelli, but her arm flopped around at random. "You, too."

In the end, it was Chief Wallace that had ridden in the ambulance with her to St. Francis with Chet and Zero following to act as security. To her surprise the Chief had stayed with her right until she was in this room. She'd been fading in and out but remembered hearing him tell everyone that she had kicked ass and was a valuable team member, though he couldn't give details. It made a nice change from showing up in the ER due to her own bad luck or incompetence.

Five sips was enough to un-parch her mouth and clear out most of the bad breath. Hector set the cup of water on the nightstand next to her bed.

Stephanie thanked him then asked, "I'm awake. Can I go now?" Granted she'd need a handful of painkillers before she could move because everything hurt.

Hector shook his head. "Twenty-four hours observation."

"I can do that at Rangeman like I have before," she protested.

Okay, so this time, she'd hit her head more than once and the stupid tool box had made an inch-long cut. But this certainly wasn't her first concussion. She knew the procedures and so did everyone at Rangeman including Ella. The hospital had released her into the care of the Rangeman medic before. Granted, Bobby wasn't back yet from … um … Boston? Maybe? Whatever. Bones was also a medic and she could be released to his care. The sooner the better because damn, the ache in her back was getting fierce.

He shook his head again. "Lo siento, but not this time. It's not just the concussion. How is your back?"

"About the same as my head. Maybe worse," she admitted. "Nothing a handful of ibuprofen can't fix. Wait. Is that why I'm stuck here? Because someone kicked me in the back?"

Both of his eyebrows raised. "Nobody kicked you, cariño. Avie shot you in the back at close range with his .45."

Stephanie gaped at him, trying to reconcile what she thought she remembered with what she was hearing. Then she heard a most welcome voice from the doorway.

"If you hadn't been wearing a vest, you would have been dead on the spot." Ranger's voice sounded strained as if he'd had to push hard to get the words out. "If you didn't have the plates in the vest, the force of high caliber rounds impacting your back at that range would have been enough to break bones and cause severe organ damage and you still might have died. As it is, you have significant bruising over most of your back and blood in your urine. You'll need to take it easy for the next week or so."

Hector squeezed her hand then slipped out of the room as Ranger came to stand by her bed. He was wearing the same clothes that he had been wearing last night. There were lines at the corners of his red-rimmed eyes and his posture wasn't quite as crisp as usual. He'd done back to back ops, two nights in a row, with barely any sleep in between and had been awake for over twenty-two hours at this point. If Stephanie had tried to work a schedule like that, she'd have hit zombie stage and crashed hours ago.

Ranger gave her a quick kiss on the lips and held her hand in his. "When you didn't stay down, he figured he would grab you for hostage value. Avie's looking at additional charges for attempted murder and kidnapping."

Stephanie was working hard not to freak out at the 'nearly shot and killed' aspect. Or should that be 'shot and nearly killed'? The words shot and killed swirled around each other in her head and for a minute they were all she could think of. Then she recalled how close she'd come to ditching the vest and her freak-out meter notched up a few points. Oh, shit. What if he'd aimed for her head? At that distance he wouldn't have missed. Her brain helpfully supplied an image she'd once seen in a target shooting video of a watermelon disintegrating into a shower of pink mush with one shot.

Hysteria bubbled up but before it could overflow, she felt Ranger's arms come around her and she clung to him. He whispered roughly in Spanish as he pulled her into his embrace, one hand coming up to palm the back of her head. He pressed his check against hers, his warm breath tickling her ear.

There was a hitch in his voice as he said, "Madre de Dios, I saw you go down and thought you were dead." His voice cracked on the last word and she felt him holding his breath before letting it out in a shaky exhale as his arms tightened almost painfully around her.

"I'm okay. I'm fine. I'm here. We're good." Over and over, she crooned soothing words in his ear, almost babbling, her hands rubbing his back as best they could.

He released the embrace and stood up straight again. As he did so, she could see the change in his expression and attitude until a calm, cool, collected Ranger stood by her bed. He donned the badass persona the way another man would put on armor and she realized that was exactly what it was.

"Do you realize," he asked, "that out of all the law enforcement and security personnel at the operation, you were the one who took down both Cartman and Avie?"

"I, um, really?" Surprised didn't come close to how she felt. She hadn't had time to think about events but looking back … huh. "Wow."

Ranger grinned at her. "Eloquent as ever. Wow, indeed."

A sharp stab of pain, gone as fast as it appeared, blasted her in the side and she hissed. The throbbing in her head ramped up as well. Ranger reached for the call button but before he could press it a nurse entered the room.

"Good morning! I'm Nurse Wilson. I'll be taking your vitals then it's time for your next round of meds."

With a sigh, Stephanie lay back and resigned herself to the stay.

~ ~ Stephanie ~ ~ 12 Days post-takedown

"If it wasn't for Stephanie, ADA Cartman would never have come under suspicion. Stephanie also developed the avenue for investigating two of our main targets. She really was the lynchpin for this entire investigation." Chief Wallace looked directly at her when he spoke, making Stephanie blush.

She and Morelli were in Wallace's office while he made a call to the Plum residence extolling Stephanie's prowess as a member of a team that included Rangeman, TPD, and the ATF. She figured it would be safer to be on this side of the speaker-phone than at her parents' house.

At some point when he was her escort at the ER, the Chief had said that if ever she needed anything she only needed to ask. And Stephanie, half out of it with a head wound, had said that thanks to 'a certain video', the only thing she needed was someone to smooth things over with her mother. When the Chief had asked her to see him this morning, she'd had no idea what he was planning but honestly, she was grateful.

It had taken almost 20 minutes of polite speech from him, pointed questions from her mother, and a couple of wild non-sequiturs from Grandma Mazur (each of which had been followed by a muttered by heartfelt exclamation from her father) and the deed was done. Her mother was no longer upset though she did seem to have convinced herself that the video was part of an undercover stint and may have involved body doubles or trick photography. Stephanie was happy not to correct her.

Stephanie thanked the Chief then she and Morelli left his office.

As they walked down the hallway Morelli said, "You were right, you know. What you said about me."

Off hand, Steph could only remember one thing she'd told him recently. "That you're a shitty boyfriend?"

Morelli huffed and rolled his eyes. "Only if you admit that you weren't the best girlfriend, staying with me and pining for him."

Offended, Steph narrowed her eyes and inhaled prepared to launch a counter attack then deflated when she realized that he was right. It had always been Ranger that she'd wanted while she settled for Morelli. As much as she wanted to do the "Yeah, but …" thing to defend her actions, she had to admit that making it obvious to Morelli that he was the second choice guy that she didn't even want to commit to was a shitty thing to do to him.

"Yeah okay." She sighed. "I concede the point. But what were you talking about?

"At the marsh house, right before the bust. You said that I'd been listening to my own propaganda so long that I'd lost sight of what Ranger and his men really are. What they really do. I've worked with Manoso on joint ops before but not when he was in charge and not when his men were also there. This was … an eye opener. They are professional and highly skilled and performed better than any other group I've worked with."

"Does this mean you'll stop bad-mouthing them all over town? You've already done a lot of damage."

He grimaced, his tone unenthused. "Not only will I stop that, I'll make sure I give them the credit they deserve."

Steph raised her eyebrows. That was more than she thought he would do. "That's unexpected but only right.'

"Well … I would have anyway but the Chief got hold of me the day after the bust. He hadn't seen Rangeman in action before. He said that I'd led him to believe the ATF would have their hands full trying to control a bunch of gun-crazy yahoos. Instead he was so impressed with their performance that he's considering asking them to give specialized training to some of our cops."

Steph had a feeling he wasn't telling her everything. His constant criticism of all things Ranger during the op stood out so she took a wild guess. "I'm betting the chief also had some words for how you behaved during the operation, didn't he?"

Morelli looked chagrined but stayed mute.

For a second she felt bad for him - first SAC Dumas had chewed him out in public then his Chief had chewed him out in private. Then she remembered that he'd brought it on himself when he let jealousy get the best of him.

The rest of their walk was silent until they got to the side door. They exchanged brief goodbyes and Stephanie stepped out, blinking in the bright sunlight. Once her eyes adjusted, she saw Ranger leaning against his Porsche Turbo, arms crossed on his chest, one ankle crossed over the other. He looked particularly scrumptious in the usual head to toe black with black Ray Ban sunglasses.

She walked over and gave him a kiss hello. "Thanks for waiting."

"So what was up?"

"The Chief made sure it was safe to go to my parents' house again."

He grinned at her and opened her door. "Safe for you, maybe."

She laughed as she got in. "I'll give you the details if you take me to lunch."

He leaned into the car and kissed her again, this time with tongue. "Deal."

~ ~ Stephanie ~ ~ 12 weeks post-takedown

Stephanie leaned back against the wall of the elevator and sighed. It was barely afternoon and already she had another shirt ruined, slashed in three places. But what else could she expect from a mob-connected guy with a street name of Tony Sliceroni. Luckily, her vest caught every bit of the blade action.

Nearly getting killed by Avie made her change her mind about vests. She wasn't eager to put one on, but she didn't fight it anymore. If her research into a skip turned up the probability of an armed attack, she'd add a vest and loose-fitting shirt to her outfit.

Fobbing her way into the seventh floor apartment, she went to the bedroom to change into something that was still in one piece. She had pulled off her shirt and vest and was standing in front of the closet in her jeans, utility belt, black boots, and a lacy blue bra when Ranger stepped into the bedroom.

"Babe. Nice outfit."

His voice had that husky timbre that always sent shivers of need down her spine. Reflexively, she squeezed her thighs together. He noticed the movement and his eyes darkened. In response she upped the ante, trailing the fingers of one hand from her collarbone to her breast, cupping it lightly.

"Oh, please," he murmured politely, "allow me."

Quite a while later, they lay in a sweaty tangle of sheets and limbs, half-drowsing as they regained their strength. Ranger flipped onto his back, pulling her onto his chest and leaving one arm around her. She rested her head on his shoulder, her arm across him, her hand making lazy circles on his skin.

"I talked to Munson today," he said. "Simpkins couldn't talk fast enough so they're getting a lot there. In the meantime, they've uncovered some macabre connections to Cartman. Eli McAllister, the name on the vehicle and the house? That was Cartman's great uncle. He hasn't been seen in about a decade, right after he gave her full power of attorney. ATF is fairly certain he's dead although they don't know if she killed him or just took advantage of his natural death."

"Either way, that's pretty cold." Not really surprising though, once she thought about it. Cartman was cold through and through. Cold and angry, with a chip on her shoulder the size of Rhode Island.

"It seems to be the start of a pattern. Those other properties that Avie talked about? Also in the names of people who haven't been seen since they gave Cartman full power of attorney. Most of them are also felons of some sort, people with no relatives. No one who would miss them if they disappeared."

"Holy moly. That's … that's … evil." She shivered at the thought. "Thank goodness you and the ATF stopped her."

"You stopped her." Ranger pulled her closer and kissed her hair. "You're the one who figured out that she was bad news. Then at the marsh house Dumas was going to call the takedown when Avie brought his guys out into the yard. We'd have gotten him and Cartman on conspiracy to murder you and Simpkins but not much else. Because you said to wait, we got their confession to multiple conspiracies as well as multiple criminal enterprises. Munson said that the ATF is very impressed with you. Words like 'clever', 'tenacious', and 'courageous' have frequently been mentioned along with your name."

Steph felt herself blush and hid her face in his neck. Her stomach gave a growl loud enough to be heard in the next room and Rangered chuckled.

"Come on. Let's go feed the beast. We'll make it a celebration of the clever, tenacious, courageous woman who cracked the case and brought down an entire criminal organization." He checked his watch. "It's early enough for you to get ready, though you'll need a snack now to tide you over until we can sit down to eat."

Time to get ready? A sit down dinner? Stephanie was intrigued. "Where are we going?"

"Rossini's is just a phone call away."

Wow. Rossini's was high end and usually saved for special occasions. Hell yeah, she wanted to go. But it was last minute and expensive. "If you don't mind?"

"For you, mi amor –" Ranger leaned down and kissed her "– nothing but the best."

~ ~ The End ~ ~

~ ~ Author's note ~ ~ :

Many MANY thanks to KathyJoK for all things beta as well as the encouragement.

I spent many an hour reviewing maps and researching a huge variety of information. If there's anything even remotely resembling a fact in there, trust me. I looked it up. I swear some weeks I spent more time on Google than I did typing.

Thank you all for reviewing. Your words mean a lot to me and they keep me going when I lose faith in myself and my abilities.

Until next time - thank you for reading.