Chapter 13

Chapter

Thirteen

February 17th

5:05 P.M.

Fury like he had never experienced before flooded Panther's body as he eased open the door to Elle's bedroom, and saw her naked on the bed with Jimmy Hillier's body on top of her.

If it were any other victim in any other op he was working, he might have tried to reason with the man, might have tried to talk him down, convince him to give himself up. But this wasn't any other victim, and with the weapon on the nightstand, well within Jimmy's reach should he try to lunge for it, Panther didn"t hesitate.

A single shot was all it took to end the life of the man who had dared hurt Elle and her daughter.

At the sound of the gunshot, and the weight of the now dead man crushing her into the mattress, Elle didn"t make a sound, and panic had Panther sprinting to the bed and literally throwing Jimmy off her, paying no attention to the man's body as it hit the hardwood floor. Was she hurt? Was she conscious? Was she dead?

The questions ran through his mind in a rush as he leaned a knee against the bed and reached over to angle Elle's face toward him. Her eyes were open but vacant, and even though he could see she was in fact alive, he needed the added reassurance of touching his fingertips to her neck so he could feel her pulse thumping against them.

There was blood on her pale skin that he assumed came from Jimmy since he couldn't see any open wounds. On her face, there was a small gash on her left cheekbone and the beginnings of what was going to be one hell of a bruise. The anger inside him grew and he wished he could kill Jimmy all over again, only slower this time, and much more painfully.

Somehow, he managed to keep his touch gentle as he ran his hands over Elle's body in search of injuries. As he touched her ribs she flinched, the first voluntary movement she'd made since he found her, and he relaxed a tiny bit.

"Elle?" he spoke softly as he cupped the non-injured side of her face. "Honey, it's Rafe. Can you hear me?" Since he had no idea of how far Jimmy had taken things before he'd gotten there, he had no idea if there were internal injuries as well or if Elle was just in shock.

After a slow blink, her eyes cleared and she bolted upright, her hands grabbing fistfuls of his clothes, twisting them between her fingers. "Ruthie, where's Ruthie?"

Panic was evident in her expression, her voice, and the desperate way she clung to him, and he ached to soothe it away. "She's down the hall in her bedroom with Scorpion," he replied. As soon as he knew where Elle had gone, he'd hacked into the security system at her house. Forced to watch as Elle cooked a meal while keeping her daughter at her side, the three of them ate at the table together like a family, the only thing stopping him from bursting in was that Jimmy was armed.

Knowing the man would rather kill Elle than let her go, and with a seven-year-old in the crosshairs, they had decided to wait until Elle and Ruthie were separated before making their move. It had been hell waiting, but as soon as Ruthie was tucked safely into bed they entered the house.

Since Panther knew that Elle's priority would be her daughter, they had secured Ruthie first before he'd continued down the hall to Elle's bedroom.

"I need to see her, I need her here, Rafe. I need my baby," she babbled, growing increasingly hysterical.

As badly as he wanted to tell her that her daughter shouldn't see her like this, that he needed to have Rock check her over before Ruthie came into the room, he knew if their positions were reversed and it was Andy who had been taken, the only thing in the world that would make him feel better was seeing his son.

"Okay, honey, hold on just one second for me, okay?" he said soothingly, reaching out to take the blanket Rock brought him. Since Elle had been raped, or come as close to it without actual penetration, he didn"t want to do anything she wasn't comfortable with. To help remind her that she could say no at any time, he talked through what he was doing before doing it. "I"m just going to wipe this blood off you so it doesn't scare Ruthie okay?"

Only after Elle nodded her consent did he take the wet towel from Rock and carefully clean away the blood. He didn"t care about cops and lawyers and evidence at this point, between Elle and Ruthie's statements, there was no doubt that Jimmy was the kidnapper, and he doubted anyone would care that the man was dead. All he wanted was to get his woman to her daughter as quickly as he could.

"I"m going to wrap you in the blanket and carry you down the hall to Ruthie's room so she doesn't have to see the blood and the body, okay?" he asked. At her nod of assent, he tucked the blanket around her and scooped her up. "The two of you are going to go to the hospital to get checked out, okay?"

Expecting an argument, Panther was surprised when Elle merely nodded and clung to him as he carried her down the hall. The second he opened the door to Ruthie's room the child scampered off the bed where she'd been huddled, refusing to allow any of them—who were just more scary big men to the traumatized seven-year-old—to get too close to her.

"Mommy!"

"Ruthie!" Elle shoved to get out of his arms, and the second he set her on her feet she yanked her daughter into her arms and sunk onto the floor, rocking her baby on her lap.

Watching the two clinging to one another, both crying, both holding on for dear life, Panther felt his own eyes sting. There was no way for him to watch the mother and daughter and not think of his own son and how it would feel to finally be reunited with his boy after going through such a long, horrific ordeal.

"Mommy, is Jimmy going to hurt us again?" Ruthie asked.

Elle looked up at him for reassurance, and when he shook his head, she turned back to her daughter. "No, baby girl. Jimmy is never going to hurt you again."

"Do you promise?"

"I promise," Elle vowed as she tucked her daughter against her body, continuing to rock her as the two sat together on the floor.

"Ambulance is here," Tank said quietly from behind him, and Panther nodded.

Crouching beside the pair, he laid a hand on Elle's shoulder. "Ambulance is here," he told her when she looked up at him.

She nodded, but when she tried to push to her feet, still holding onto her daughter, her exhausted body couldn't make it.

"I got you, honey," he murmured as he lifted both mother and daughter into his arms.

Downstairs he found medics already inside and waiting for them, so he set Elle down on the living room sofa.

"Look at Ruthie first," she insisted even though it was clear to all of them that she was the one with injuries while her daughter appeared to be physically unharmed.

Wanting to give the two space, uncertain now about his role in their lives, just because he and Elle had talked about giving a relationship a go after Ruthie was found he wasn't sure it was still what she wanted, Panther turned to walk away. Wasn't sure that even if she did want it that she had the emotional energy to expend on anything else but her daughter and herself right now. Or for the foreseeable future.

It wasn't that he didn"t understand or respect the fact that Ruthie was her priority, he just ached to be there for the two of them. But right now, Ruthie was afraid of big men like him and he didn"t want to make her recovery any harder than it was already going to be.

"Rafe," Elle's panicked voice stopped him in his tracks.

"Yeah, honey?"

"Where are you going?"

"Was going to let the EMTs do their thing and get you two to the hospital."

"Y-you"re l-leaving us?" Elle stammered.

His heart thudded in his chest at Elle's obvious distress at the idea of him leaving. Maybe he was wrong, maybe she and her daughter didn"t need or want space while they worked on processing their ordeal. Maybe all they needed was unconditional support. Support that he and his son wanted to offer.

"I thought maybe it was what you wanted," he replied honestly.

She shook her head hard enough to make herself wince. "It's not what I want." Elle looked down at her daughter in her lap. "It's because of you I have her back, that she's safe and sound in my arms again, where she belongs. I want you to stay with us. Please."

"Oh, honey, you don't have to beg. I want to be here, for both of you." Sitting down on the couch beside her, he pulled her sideways so Elle was in his lap, with Ruthie in her lap. "Nowhere else I"d rather be."

February 17th

7:31 P.M.

Fatigue weighed heavily down upon Elle's shoulders, but she couldn't wipe the smile from her face.

Ruthie was here.

In her arms.

Safe.

Home.

Right where she belonged.

True to his word, Rafe had stayed right by their side. He'd ridden in the ambulance with them, he'd held her hand while a doctor examined Ruthie, and caught her weight before she could collapse and scare her daughter when the doctor said there were no signs of sexual abuse. Somehow, he'd even managed to win enough of Ruthie's trust that she had allowed him to hold her while Elle had been examined. It was obvious her daughter was now afraid of all big men who bore any kind of resemblance to Jimmy.

All except Rafe it seemed.

Even now as they waited for discharge papers so they could leave, Ruthie seemed content to sit on the bed sandwiched between her and Rafe.

Relief that her daughter wasn't terrified of Rafe wiped away a little of her exhaustion. She needed Rafe, but if it was too much for her daughter, she would have asked him to give them space and time.

Ruthie had to be her priority.

Just because her daughter had come out of her ordeal physically unharmed didn"t mean she wasn't hurting. Elle had already set up an appointment for her daughter with a child psychologist who specialized in childhood trauma, and whatever the woman suggested she would do. Whatever it took to help her daughter heal.

"Mommy?"

"Yeah, sweetie?" Never again would she take for granted the simple pleasure of hearing her child call her mom.

"Are we … do we have to … where are we going when we leave?" Ruthie asked in a small voice Elle wasn't used to hearing her daughter use.

Honestly, she hadn"t thought that far ahead. Between the cops asking them questions, and she and Ruthie being examined, there hadn"t been time to think more than what happened next. But Ruthie was right, she had to figure out a plan. "We'll probably stay at a hotel tonight, sweetheart, then when the police say we can go back home we'll go there."

"No, I don't want to go back home," Ruthie cried, bursting into tears. Even as a baby Ruthie hadn"t been a big crier, and seeing her sweet little girl so lost and scared was heartbreaking. She was the mom, she wanted to fix it, make everything better, and soothe every hurt, but this wasn't something she could just use her mom magic and fix.

Her daughter wasn't the only one who didn"t want to go back to that house. From here on out, every time she walked in there, Elle knew she would see Jimmy with his hands around Ruthie's neck. But it would take time for her to put the house on the market and hunt for a new home, and right now, her daughter needed one hundred percent of her time and attention.

"I guess we can stay at a hotel for a while," she soothed. It wasn't ideal, Ruthie needed to be somewhere she could feel safe, where she could rebuild her sense of stability, and a hotel wasn't the place for that. But beggars couldn't be choosers and they didn"t have family they could go and stay with.

"Don't want to overstep, but Andy and I would love to have the two of you stay with us," Rafe spoke up.

"We can"t impose on you like that," she said the words even though there was nothing in the world she would rather do than take her baby out to that cabin in the quiet, peaceful woods. It was the perfect place for her daughter to heal, but just because Elle felt peace out there didn"t mean Ruthie would.

"Not imposing if we want you there," Rafe refuted.

"Who's Andy?" Ruthie asked, the first hint of curiosity in her inquisitive daughter showing itself.

"Andy's my son. He's eight," Rafe told her.

"Where do you and Andy live?" Ruthie asked. Her daughter looked so small sitting next to Rafe's huge frame, and she liked knowing that Rafe could and would do whatever it took to protect her child. As long as Rafe was there they were both safe.

"We live in a cabin out in the forest. It's still winter, but in the spring we have deer, and rabbits, lots of birds and butterflies, and sometimes we get the occasional bear."

Ruthie loved animals and any mention of them was enough to garner her interest. "I like bird, and butterflies, too. Everything that flies."

"I have a friend who lives out in the woods with me and she loves butterflies so much that her fiancé made her a butterfly house."

At the sound of that, Ruthie's eyes grew so wide that both she and Rafe chuckled. "Wow, that's cool."

"The coolest," he agreed. It was no surprise that he was completely at ease with the seven-year-old since he had a son around the same age. Still, Elle felt her heart warm listening to them bond.

"Who else lives with you in the woods?" Ruthie asked.

"Well, me and Andy live together in one cabin. Sometimes Mrs. Pfeffer stays with us, too, she looks after Andy when I"m not home. Then there's Ariel who has the butterfly house, and Rock, her fiancé. There's Tank and Tillie, they live together, Trick and Stephanie live together, and Axe and Beth. And lastly there's Scorpion and Jessica, they live together, too, and they're going to have a baby."

Her daughter's eyes lit up at the mention of a baby. Ruthie was dying to be a big sister. "Why do they have such funny names?"

"They have regular names, too, but they're our special names, our nicknames."

"What"s your nickname?"

"It's Panther."

Ruthie giggled, and tears filled Elle's eyes. It was the first time her daughter had laughed and it gave her hope that one day Ruthie could go back to the carefree child she'd always been.

"That's a great nickname," Ruthie enthused, then she grew serious. "Are your friends the men from our house?"

"They are."

"They're scary," Ruthie said with a shudder.

"They're big and can look kind of scary, but they're not really scary when you get to know them. We help people like you and your mom who need help, we save people, we protect people, and we would never ever hurt anyone."

After considering this for a moment, her daughter turned to her. "Can we stay with Panther and Andy?"

"If you think you'd like to, baby, we can stay." It probably wasn't the wisest move, deciding they would give a relationship a try didn"t mean they should jump straight to the moving-in-together stage. But truth was, it was the only place she would feel safe, and the only place she would feel safe having Ruthie stay.

Both Rafe and Ruthie smiled at her, and her heart eased a little. Her daughter was home, and she had an amazing man and his amazing little boy offering to be there for both of them. What more could she ask for?

A few minutes later, a nurse came in with discharge papers and then she was carrying Ruthie through the hospital halls and outside to Rafe's vehicle. Her daughter's weight made her cracked ribs ache, but Elle didn"t care, this was exactly where she needed her child to be.

The car's rocking motion lulled her off to sleep as she sat in the backseat with Ruthie snuggled against her side, and the next thing she knew, Rafe was stroking one hand down her hair and the other down Ruthie's.

"Wake up, sleepyheads," he called softly.

"Rafe?" she murmured.

"Panther?" Ruthie mumbled at the same time.

"You can call me Rafe if you want," Rafe said to Ruthie. "That's what your mom calls me."

Now that she knew the significance for these guys of having someone call them by their first name, Elle felt tears well in her eyes. The only good thing to come out of this whole ordeal was meeting Rafe and Andy.

"Rafe," Ruthie agreed, sounding sleepy.

"Come on you two, Andy has a surprise all cooked up for you inside," he said, nodding over his shoulder to where Andy was standing.

Scrambling forward, the little boy wriggled past his dad. "Elle, I did ‘xactly what you told me. I told Daddy what you said. There's no place like home," he said as he wrapped his thin arms around her.

"You did amazing, buddy boy. You saved our lives." She hugged the child tightly, forever grateful for his help. No matter what happened between her and Rafe, she'd like to maintain a relationship with the boy.

"Are you Ruthie?" Andy asked. "I told Elle that my dad would save you. He's a superhero and won"t let nobody hurt you again. I won"t let nobody hurt you neither," he declared in the same exact tone she could imagine his father would use.

Ruthie smiled shyly at Andy. "My mom and I are going to stay here."

"I know." Andy looked and sounded excited by the idea. "Me and Beth got Mrs. Pfeffer's room all ready. We put up fairy lights everywhere so it wouldn't be too dark, and we put lots of pillows and blankets on the bed so it's all snuggly. We put the TV in there and Beth is making hot chocolate right now. After you have a bubble bath, we're all going to get in the bed and watch movies till we fall asleep. Beth said that's what she does when she can"t sleep."

Elle knew enough about Beth to know the woman had been rescued by Rafe and Bravo Team, and had eventually fallen in love with and married Axe. Only then she had been taken, missing for months, and when she returned it was with no memory of who she was or who the people around her were. It was sweet that the woman had wanted to make a safe place for Ruthie even when she had her own issues to worry about.

"You thought of everything, huh, bud?" Rafe asked, ruffling his son's hair.

"Yep."

Once Andy had scrambled back out of the car, Elle went to reach for Ruthie, only to have Rafe stop her.

"I got her, honey. Your ribs are hurting you, let me carry her."

She would have asked Ruthie if she was okay with Rafe carrying her inside, but her daughter had already unbuckled her seatbelt and held up her arms to Rafe to allow him to pick her up.

Andy grabbed Elle's hand as soon as she was out of the car, and as she followed Rafe and Ruthie inside, she prayed she wasn't making a mistake allowing the two boys to care for her and her daughter. Because Rafe was already her security blanket, and if she allowed him to become Ruthie's as well and things didn"t work out between them, then she was setting both herself and her daughter up for a huge fall.