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Chapter Twelve

Stephanie

"I'll be fine, Les. I swear. But if I don't get out of this apartment more, I'll lose my mind." I wasn't lying, either. Much. I'd basically been holed up in the apartment on four for the past week, and while the break from real life was appreciated, I knew I had to get back out there at some point. I'd left only twice, once to go see a counselor, and once to go to a group therapy session the counselor had suggested. I didn't count either of those experiences as getting out, because it was exhausting trying to keep up the appearance of holding it together after spending an hour rehashing my time with Moreno and then listening to other women tell their own personal horror stories. Lester and Bobby went as my bodyguards, and while I appreciated their presence – because Lord knew I was hesitant enough to leave the building with Moreno still out there – I wanted to start living my life again. I wanted to get a little bit of normal back, even if it only meant going up one floor for the day.

Lester flashed me a grin from his spot on the couch. When I wasn't at a counseling session or being poked and prodded at – excuse me, 'examined' – by Bobby, I was curled up on the couch next to Les watching episode after episode of bad TV. I found it comforting. It gave me permission to shut my brain off and focus on the problems of strangers that would be neatly resolved in a one-hour time frame. Honestly, I'm surprised Les hasn't lost his mind watching some of this stuff. He wasn't the one busy avoiding reality.

"OK, Beautiful. If you say so. I know the guys have missed having you do their searches. I guess I can't keep you all to myself forever." He heaved a dramatic sigh, which drew a smile out of me. Lester had really been great this week, not pushing me to talk about things, just letting me deal with it at my own pace, doing his best to get me to smile. "We'll go up after lunch. I know Tank wants to see you, and Hector. I guess it's pretty dull without you up there brightening up the place." I looked away and felt a blush creep up on me. In spite of Lester's antics, he could be sweet. Though he would make a face and immediately deny it if I ever told him so.

After eating as much as I could for lunch (Ella had been outdoing herself in the kitchen in an attempt to bring my appetite back), Les and I boarded the elevator. I let out a sigh, arms wrapped around myself, and leaned on Les. I loved these guys, they were my family, but still I was nervous. After Moreno – after the kidnapping, I felt a tension that hadn't been there – Before. But this was After, and I had to deal with it if I wanted my life back. Les gently put a hand on my back, spreading comforting warmth down my spine, and under his breath he reassured me that I would be fine and he would be there the whole time. I missed Ranger – so much so that I wouldn't let myself think about him, especially now – but Lester had been there for me the past week in a way I didn't know I needed. I don't know if I could ever find a way to tell him how much his friendship meant to me.

The doors opened with a ding and that seemed to be the cue for all the Merry Men on the floor to break out in cheers. I could feel myself stiffen at the sudden commotion, still not feeling secure in my own skin. Les must have been giving off some sort of stay back vibe, because the guys all told me how glad they were to see me back, but none of them tried to hug me or anything, for which I was grateful. I smiled and nodded at the guys, told them I was doing great and was just ready to get back to work. I'm not sure how many of them bought it – I swear I saw a few of them glance at each other with an unreadable expression – but they left it alone and I made my way to my cubicle. Groaning at the massive stack of searches in my inbox, I flopped into my chair and told myself this was necessary. I knew the guys wouldn't let me back into the field anytime soon, not with Moreno out there (and truthfully I didn't much feel like leaving the safety of the building anyway), but I had to do something other than watch TV. I might as well be useful and help the guys out.

I started flipping through the search requests, so I could start on the most urgent ones. I came to the last one and froze. It was De Luca. I shoved the desire to run back to my apartment to the back of my mind. I wanted to have a part in catching the men responsible for my abduction, and here was my chance. Looking through the file, it looked like somebody had already done some research on him. Maybe the guys thought I could find something they missed. It was always a possibility. I was thinking about everything we had on De Luca, trying to think of anything that might have been missed in the first search, when my mind landed on the original distraction job. There had been a guy there that night; he'd started shooting before the guys took him down. I never found out what was going on with him or if he was connected to our FTA, given the big fight I'd had with Morelli. Probably he had nothing to do with it, but it was someplace to start. With that, I turned back to my computer and began my research.

Lester

After leaving Steph at her cubicle I walked over to my office. It was a wreck, but at the moment, I didn't give a shit. I had bigger things to worry about. Dropping into my chair, I groaned, rubbing my face. God, I was fucking exhausted. Every moment I wasn't in Steph's apartment I was down in the gym trying in vain to work off my still-simmering anger over what had happened to her and my ridiculously helpless feeling that welled up every time I thought about how we'd gotten there too late. It was becoming a constant refrain in my head: Too late. Too late. Too late. If I wasn't in the gym I was talking to the team I had on the Moreno case, trying to piece together what little information we had into making some sort of sense. I flipped through the report the TPD had sent over on the crime scene from the dead guy's apartment on Comstock. So far all they had was that it looked like the guy had connections in Colombia. It made sense – Moreno had been trying to get back out of the country under the radar. Looks like he was heading toward Colombia. They were still processing the physical evidence, waiting on the autopsy results – everything was backed up, as always – but at least they were cooperating with us.

I looked up from the report to see Binkie and Junior heading out in full gear. I went to the control room to see what was going on, and Zip told me an alarm had gone off at a client's house, but there was currently no indication of any movement on the surveillance cameras, so they just dispatched a two-man team. I nodded, and as I was heading back to my office I saw Tank headed my way. He followed me in, shutting the door behind him.

"Just got word from Ranger. His mission may be cut short. His contacts say the target relocated just before he arrived in country. He's waiting for orders but thinks he'll be back here within the month, after gathering all useful intel on the target." I nodded. Thank Christ. Stephanie needed him. I'd been there for her the best way I knew how, but I knew she needed Ranger, even if she would never come out and say it. Every time she flinched at an unexpected movement, every time I saw a flicker of fear flash in her eyes, every time she winced from her still healing injuries, I felt like a knife twisted in my gut. I wanted to help her, but I knew that Ranger was the only one who could give her any sense of real peace back in her life.

Forcibly turning my thoughts back to my conversation with Tank, I felt like something clicked in my head. 'Target relocated just before he arrived in country' Tank said. Shit. I hoped this didn't mean what I was starting to think it meant.

"Do we know the location for his op?" I asked, needing to know but not wanting to hear what I knew Tank would say.

"Not officially. But Ranger referenced our mission from five years ago." He gave me a deliberate stare. Oh Jesus fuck, that mission was a mess. "And before you ask, I talked to his handler, and got the target's name. That's all she would give me. Juan Carlos Ramírez. If you're taking this where I think you are, make sure to use the secure line in Ranger's office. I don't want any goddamn agencies up our ass, you got me?"

"Got it. I'll go tell Stephanie we heard that Ranger's safe. She needs the good news right now." Tank nodded and headed back to his office, while I wandered over to Steph's cubicle, trying to shake off the tension on the way.

"Hey, Beautiful," I said softly, tugging on an errant curl. Steph looked up at me and gave me a small smile in return. I swear I felt my heart flip over when she smiled at me like that, but I quickly shoved those thoughts aside. I didn't have time for bullshit like that, and anyway, I was here to tell her about Ranger, for chrissakes.

"Hey, Les. First day back and I swear Rodriguez saved up everything he had from the past week. It'll take me forever to get through this," she said, indicating the admittedly massive stack of search requests in her inbox.

"Well then, aren't you glad I'm here, the harbinger of good news. We got word that Ranger's currently safe, and may be returning sooner than expected."

"Omigod, Les, that's awesome!" she said, showing more enthusiasm than I'd seen from her in the past week. Of course, the old Stephanie would have thrown her arms around me and jumped around in celebration, but now – well, things were different. Just getting her to show some positive emotion was a decent step, and I was grateful we'd gotten the contact from Ranger, just to see how it helped Stephanie. Yeah, it was clear how much her happiness revolved around him.

"I'll let you know if we hear anything else about his return. I gotta go make some calls." Steph rolled her eyes – I almost laughed, the eye roll was almost better than the smile, in getting Stephanie back to her old self.

"Yeah, yeah, Les, I know. Go save the world – or, I suppose since it's already 3 in the afternoon, just a small country." She gave me another smile and turned back to her computer.

I just smirked at her. "You know it, Beautiful." And turned toward Ranger's office. If only she knew. I didn't need to save the world. I would settle for saving one sweet girl from the Burg.

Stepping into Ranger's office, I was just about to boot up the secure computer he kept for classified research, when I heard a commotion out on the floor. I stepped out to hear Tank calling for a report. Zip's reply was a little shaky.

"We dispatched Binkie and Junior to a client's house earlier when an alarm was set off. Binkie just called it in – shots fired, Junior's down. He scanned the area, didn't see an immediate threat, but the shot was taken from a distance, so he dragged Junior to cover. TDP is on the way, and an ambulance. Bobby took off with Vince to meet them at the scene."

Fuck.