I've unfortunately been suffering through severe lack of free time and a bad case of writer's block and the lack of frequent updates to this story (and others) is the result. I apologize for leaving you hanging for so long, especially for this story. I have managed to finish it and instead of torturing you and dragging it out for 15 more short chapters, I have condensed them all into this one long conclusion chapter.

Thank you to everyone who has left me a review. It is because of you that I continue to try and write.

They found the body near another booby trap. The man was badly injured, had been left for dead and was clearly not who they were looking for. "His partner in crime?" Tank queried.

"Probably," Ranger replied. "We know he had to have had help and there are most likely more."

"This was Junior," Hector stated as he kneeled beside the fallen man, inspecting his wounds. He shrugged at Tank's skeptical look. "You know he didn't go down without a hell of a fight."

Ranger turned away from the body, knowing Hector was right. He'd seen Junior before they took him to the hospital and it was clear he'd tried very hard to fend off the attackers. He swallowed the emotion gathering in his throat and asked how close they were.

"A mile," Hector informed them, "according to the GPS." Ranger watched the little green dot flashing from the device in Hector's hand and tried to quell the need to run the rest of the way. They had to go in as quietly as possible and running didn't lend itself to silence, especially through all the obstructions they had to watch for.

Bobby tapped his ear piece as he cut his eyes to Ranger. "Ram just reported in. They found another bear trap and a tripwire rigged with enough C4 to take out half the forest. This must have taken weeks to set up...good thing SWAT didn't get here first; they would've been dead in ten minutes."

Ranger nodded once. He suspected what they'd find and it's why he asked Morelli for time. Fortunately, he and his men had extensive experience traversing through minefields fields such as these. "Let's go. Keep your eyes open for more traps."

He dipped his finger in his pocket as they moved and clutched her ring as they hiked further into the trees.

Hector's hand signal halted their progression fifty feet from the target. A huge section of the forest had been flattened and in its place, several small buildings had been constructed. According to Lester's team, who'd taken out two sentries to get inside, one contained a variety of farm animals. That explained what Stephanie had heard.

There were three building left to clear and Ranger dispatched the other teams to begin, saving the one every instinct he had told him contained Stephanie, for his team.

A sudden piercing scream filled the thick air surrounding them and sent Ranger into a full-blown run. Ignoring the calls of protest from his men he burst through the single door of the main house with his Glock leading the way. He took out two men with swift shots to the heart and when he rounded a corner only the sight of Stephanie hanging from the ceiling by shackles secured around her wrists gave him a second of pause before he squeezed the trigger and put a bullet in Marco Alcarez's brain.

The man had been wielding an oversized metal shiv, ready to add another hole to her skin and the weapon, along with his body, fell to the floor before either could do any more damage to the woman he loved.

Ranger hadn't even heard his men come in behind him but suddenly they were there and helping to cut Stephanie down. She was breathing but not coherent and he cradled her head while Bobby inspected her wounds. "She's lost a lot of blood. We need to get her out of here, now, and not on foot."

"I've already radioed for a chopper," Hector announced. "ETA ten minutes."

Ranger wasn't listening to anything but the raspy breath coming from her lungs. As long as he could hear that, he knew she would make it. He held her against his chest while Bobby bandaged what he could and Ranger whispered to her to hold on. "You're fine, Babe. Everything is okay. Stay with me now."

SWAT and the medivac chopper arrived at the same time. There was a minor argument when the EMT team tried to keep Ranger from riding with her but was quickly diffused by the co-pilot giving up his seat to the man who he thought will kill everyone if they didn't let him on board the bird.

As he was lifted in the harness to the hovering helicopter, Ranger's last vision of the horrifying scene was Joe Morelli barking orders to the SWAT team.

Upon arrival at the hospital they forced him wait in the lobby and he was barely holding it together when Bobby and the rest of the teams arrived. Security had been called when Ranger began making threats and they were barring the doors that led to the only place he wanted to be.

Tank took control of the situation and got the guards to back down by promising he would keep Ranger from hurting anyone or destroying any property. When they eventually left, Tank clasped Ranger's shoulders in his enormous hands and peered into his bloodshot eyes. "This isn't helping. I know you need to be in there but if you don't get yourself under control they will kick you out and then you won't be able to see her at all."

He knew Tank was right but every single molecule in his body was pulsing with anxiety. "She needs a guard on the door...she needs....me." Or he needed her was probably more accurate.

"She's gonna be fine," Bobby insisted. "Steph is a survivor, but you gotta let the doctors do their thing."

"We have the building surrounded," Zip added. "No one is going to get in that shouldn't be here."

That was what finally got Ranger to settle, at least as much as he was going to. Knowing they were watching the building and no one would be able to get to her while her body was being repaired kept him from tearing apart the waiting room.

When the staff eventually allowed him into her room, the sight of her heavily bandaged body nearly made him cry out but he held it in and went to her side. She was still unconscious but he clasped her hand in his anyway, willing her to awaken even as he began to plan how to extricate himself from her life.

The list of enemies who wanted to cause him immeasurable pain was extensive and hurting Stephanie, taking her away from him, would be what could bring him down.

Too many people knew that weakness. Too many knew the one thing in his life Ranger would die to protect.

To keep her safe he shouldn't be with her anymore. His heart twisted painfully beneath his ribs as he squeezed her fingers one last time.

Before he could let go, Stephanie's weakened voice rasped out a whispered word that held him frozen at her hospital bedside.

"Don't."

He lifted his eyes and fell into the deep blue depths of hers. "Don't what?"

"Don't leave."

Ranger kissed her hand and leaned over to do the same to her chapped lips. "I'm not going anywhere, Babe."

"But you were. I could see it on your face. You think this is your fault and you think the answer is to not be in my life. You've probably also been chastising yourself for getting so close to me in the first place."

He had no doubt she had more to say but a broken cough halted her exposing of his every thought. It was one of the many things that made him love her. Stephanie could always see right through the facade he built to hide his true feelings from the rest of the world. He lifted the cup of water from the table next to the bed and helped her take a sip through the straw.

"I won't let you," she continued after taking a drink. "We've worked too hard for this; we've come too far to let anything tear us apart. I'm gonna marry you Ranger, and despite everything, whatever obstacles we still have to face, we'll do it together."

He felt the tears stinging the backs of his eyes but he blinked them away and bent his head again to kiss her lips. He did it gently, softly and when he separated their mouths he knew she was right. How could he have even thought he could survive without her at his side?

A life without her wouldn't be worth living and he knew that. He'd known it since the day they met.

Without responding, Ranger reached into his pocket and retrieved her ring, sliding it back on her finger where it belonged.

"You found it! I knew you would. I took it off to try and keep him from knowing..."

"It didn't matter, Steph. He already knew...I don't want you to take it off again, ever."

"I won't," she promised and brought his hand to her cheek. He cradled it in his palm and said a silent thanks to God or whatever deity had brought her into his life and pleaded with them to let him keep her.

They would have a tough road ahead of them, Stephanie wouldn't handle it well when she leaned of Junior's fate and she would hate being in the hospital while she recovered from her injuries and she was going to argue with him when he refused to let her out of his sight for the foreseeable future, but as she'd said, whatever lay before them, they would handle it together.

And as much as he tried to deny it, he didn't want it any other way.