Disclaimer: These characters are not mine (dammit!) and I am not making any money from them. Just doing for the characters and the story what I think it needs and that the author is not doing.

Author's Note: This is a Babe Story, even though Ranger is only barely in it. This story appeared in the middle of another that I am writing. It didn't really belong there, but it deserved to be heard. So I made it into its own little vignette.

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********Two Tears**********

It was 7:45am Monday morning and I was on my way down to work from the 7th floor. I had spent the weekend with Carlos and I was happy. Really happy. Sing to myself and dance in the elevator happy. I got off on 5 and headed to the break room grinning.

The break room was full of Rangemen getting some breakfast before either leaving or starting their shifts. I grabbed a cup of coffee and a couple of banana muffins and looked around at who was in there. It was health food, but Ella made the banana muffins seem sinful as real ones. Off in one corner, pretty much by himself was Hector.

Hector was an enigma for Rangeman. He was most definitely NOT ex-military. He was also out of the physical type for Rangeman. Hector was short, maybe 5'6" and thin, wiry rather than muscular. Dark haired, dark eyed, handsome in a different way from the rest of the guys. He is ex-gang and had two teardrop tattoos on his cheek. The teardrops are gang for he'd killed someone and it was gang related. And according to Ranger, he was gay. Not that I'm going to ask him. Most of the guys at Rangeman avoided him, were wary to the point of fear. I think even Ranger was a little wary of him and Ranger was a really powerful guy.

When I first met Hector, he could barely speak two words of English and he had only one teardrop. I didn't think about it, didn't want to think about it because I kind of liked Hector. He was always teasing me about shooting the alarm fob I had at one time. What can I say? The damn thing pissed me off and I was having a really bad day. Hector always smiled and spoke to me when our paths crossed and I would stick my tongue out at him when he said "Bang bang" to tease me. We started helping each other with words, me with his English, him with a little Spanish for me.

Then the Slayers thing happened and I was in the sights of that really bad gang. I was rescued by my guys and Sally Sweet, and a bunch of Slayers got killed, and I was left with really bad nightmares for months after, scared and sure they would get back at me. Then one day I was chasing a skip on one of the streets that ran parallel to Stark street where the gangs ran. We were a few blocks from gang territory and my skip was not gang related. I was running as hard as I could chasing him, eyes on the prize and not really keeping track of the twists and turns in the foot chase. Then suddenly I chased the skip into an alley and slid on something, then was clothes lined by the skip and he took off. By the time I had my breath back and was able to stand, he had disappeared. That's when I realized I was in an alley behind Stark street and I freaked out. I mean a full blown panic. I was terrified. I went down the alley, trying to hide, but at a certain point I had to get out, cross Stark and try to work my way back to my car. I had left my purse under the front seat with my cell phone in it and I didn't have a panic button at that time, so Ranger had no way to know I was in trouble.

Suddenly, 2 gang members appeared in front of me. I backed up a pace turned and there were 3 of them behind me. I think my heart about exploded in my chest at that point. Then one of the first two guys spoke to me in heavily accented English. "It's ok chica. We got him for you. He's in your car. You come with us and we take you there." I couldn't move. "Chica please come. You OK. Come with us." He gestured at me to follow him. I looked back at the guys behind me. They all smiled and made shooing motions with their hands. I took a couple of steps in the direction of the first guy. "That's right. Come with Angel. We take you there." We all walked for about 4 blocks and there was my car, the driver's side door being held open by yet another gang member and my skip was in the back, unconscious. I walked to the open door and turned to face them all.

"You tell him that we helped his woman, OK?" Angel was smiling and nodding at me. "You tell your man we helped you and there is no need for tears here today, OK chica?" I nodded. Angel made shooing motions. "You tell him Angel made sure OK? You go on now chica."

I drove to the cop shop, dropped off my skip and got the receipt, all in a daze. I was numb with shock, I think. It was on the way back to the bond office that it hit me. They weren't afraid of Ranger. They were afraid of Hector. That's who they were talking about. The tears. The teardrops on his face. At the time, I hadn't seen Hector since just after the Slayer incident when I came to Haywood one night because I couldn't sleep. Ranger had been in the wind, but Bobby was there and he gave me a sedative that knocked me out for about 12 hours with no dreams. Hector had seen me come in shaking and frightened and crying from the bad dreams. Then, I remembered a conversation I overheard in the break room a few days later. One of the guys mentioned that Hector had a new teardrop and they were talking about how scary he was when he was pissed. Then I remembered hearing Morelli talking about someone just about destroyed the Slayers leadership and then the 618s when they tried to take over what was left of the Slayers. I remember Morelli saying he would be after Ranger for it, but Ranger was not in town, and they didn't know who was responsible and the gangs weren't talking.

Shaking for a different reason, I drove to Haywood instead of the bond office and went straight to the tech lab on the third floor where Hector worked. I knocked on the door then entered without waiting. Hector looked up from the table where he was doing something and I saw the second teardrop and I knew. He was why the gangs hadn't, wouldn't retaliate against me for the Slayers thing. Hector, not Ranger. And he'd killed people to do it. But it also meant I was safe. I started to cry, and I threw myself across the room into Hector's arms and howled and sobbed out all the fear and stress I had held in since that time. I cried so hard I didn't even know Ranger had shown up in the doorway. He had looked at Hector and Hector looked back, his arms around me, rocking me. Ranger was still for a bit, then pointed to the ceiling and left. Hector kept rocking me and was crooning at me until the emotional storm blew itself out. Then he wet down some paper towels using a bottle of water and cleaned my face up.

"Nina, mi novia, you OK?" He was trying to clean the mascara off my face.

"Angel said to tell you he helped me. They didn't want trouble and they helped me." I was watching his face. He went still, then smiled slightly. "Good." He kept cleaning my face. I reached up, touched the second tear drop with my finger. He went still again, watching me. I leaned over and kissed the tear drop, then I kissed him on the mouth. He put his hands on my face and kissed me back, gently, sweetly, with affection. It was not a sexual kiss, just affectionate and loving. Then I hugged him and he hugged me and patted my back then told me to go upstairs. "Go. Ranger is waiting." I turned and headed for the door, paused when I reached it. I turned and looked at him, this man that a lot of people were deathly afraid of and realized that he really cared about me and I really cared about him as a brother. "I love you Hector." He smiled and his face lit up like the sun. "Te amo, Estephania. Now go." And he shooed me out the door to Ranger.

Now, Hector was sitting in the break room by himself, still not totally engaged with the rest of the Rangeman crew. I walked past all the other tables, including one where Hal and Lester were sitting, and went and sat with Hector. Making a point to the rest and letting Hector know how I felt too. He looked up as I sat down and smiled at me.

"Morning Hector. How are you?"

"I'm Good. You happy today?

"I'm very happy today." I smiled and we chatted a little. Ok, a very little. Then we did our word of the day thing where he points to something either in the room or in a magazine or newpaper he has with him and I give him the word in English, then he gives me the word in Spanish. We laughed and played around a bit. After a little while, Hector headed for the tech room and I sat by myself finishing my third muffin. That's when Lester, Hal and a couple of the other guys came and sat at the table.

"How do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Get Hector to talk and laugh and let you touch him?" Les was acting really concerned.

"Yeah, he doesn't let anyone touch him, except when you spar with him. Even then, you can barely touch him. No one will hardly spar with him except Ranger or Tank. He's a scary dude." Hal was almost whispering as if talking about Hector out loud was a gonna get him struck by lightning or something.

"Uh, he's always fine with me. I never have a problem when we practice."

They all stared at me. "You spar with Hector?" Les sounded awe struck.

"Not spar really. He's been showing me some moves I can use with skips and to get out of trouble. That's all."

They all looked at each other. "What?"

They all were looking at Lester now. He puffed out a sigh. "Sweetie, you heard what happened when Hector applied to Rangeman right?" I shook my head. "Ranger told him that he didn't employ gang members. Hector told him to check it out, that he was not in a gang anymore. Ranger didn't believe it, but checked around and was assured that Hector's old gang was no longer interested in Hector and neither were any other gangs. Seems the head of his old gang ended up dead in a really bad way, and anyone else who messed with Hector or his family ended up dead the same way. The gangs decided not to mess with him anymore." I was staring at Les. Les was basically saying that Hector had killed his way out of the gangs. "Ranger talked to him again after that, but no one knows what was said. All we know is that Hector was given the chance to take the eligibility tests for Rangeman. He passed them all, including a mats session with Ranger."

"Yeah." Hal was round eyed and still speaking softly. "It was legendary. Ranger and Hector got on the mats, Ranger made a move and he was on his back. Hector put Ranger on his back in one move. So Ranger stood up and came at Hector again, harder and faster. Ranger was on his stomach in two moves. So he got up and tried again. It took Hector four moves, but Ranger was on his back again. It took a minute or two, but Ranger stood up and offered Hector his hand and a job." Hal was shaking his head. "No one could figure it out. No one takes Ranger down that easily. But Hector did."

Les reached over and took my hand. "And now you tell us he's been training you? Wow, Steph. Just wow."

I looked around the table. I mean, I heard what they were saying. They thought Hector was a scary dude. And, well, he had really terrified me when I first met him. But it's hard to be afraid of a guy who says "Bang Bang" and laughs at you all the time or a guy you've bawled your eyes out on, complete with copious amounts of snot. You just can't be awe struck after that. And he's always been nice to me. Always. If Ranger or Les weren't around, I'd probably call Hector next. That's how much I trust him.

"I don't know what to say, guys. He's my friend." They shook their heads and we finished our muffins and coffee and headed out for the day. As I followed the guys out of the break room, I made an impulsive decision (me and impulsive – what a concept!) and instead of heading to my office, turned and headed down the stairs to the third floor. I went straight to the tech room, pushed the door open and bounced happily over to Hector, who just looked at me with a question in his eyes. I proceeded to hug him tight, then I kissed the teardrops on his cheek and bounced out of the room with a cheery "See you later, Hector!"

Behind me in the room, Hector stood still for a moment, then smiled sweetly and touched his fingers to the teardrops. "Hola, Estaphania."

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*****Notes*****

Te Amo – I love you

Hola, Estaphania – Hello Stephanie.