Hope For Love

Ok guys, here is chapter four. I’ve been doing a lot of medical research for this chapter, trying to make both her injuries and her treatment somewhat within the realm of possibility. I’ve been told by a couple of my sounding people that her injuries are almost too extensive, so I though I’d get into that here.

I realize she has this huge laundry list of injuries, and it seems pretty fantastical for someone this young. But consider that these would have been spread out over 11 years, some of them would be caused or aggravated by a new injury and most of the broken bones happened because she’s had very little nutritional supplement so her bones are seriously brittle.

She has muscle and tissue deterioration, she has severe mental trauma, she’s got infections, she has multiple fractures in her skeletal system, and problems associated with starvation such as rickets, distended stomach, weakness of body and immunity and bad eyesight.

There is a very small section devoted to checking in on Hunter, Blake and the gang, however please don’t be upset if its not long or detailed enough for your liking, I’m only adding it in because its been three weeks since the last chapter.

I want to thank all of my reviewers: JueseaPeterson, Bloomsky, and Alamodie for their praise and suggestions. I’m very happy you guys are enjoying it. Sorry it took me so long to update!

Chapter Four:

As the weeks quickly passed the rangers’ lives slowly returned to normal. Hunter has returned to training, Lothor continued to interrupt their lives with various monster attacks. They had overcome the bruises from their last battle, both physical and emotional, Shane being the slowest to heal from his fight for Skyla. But things were still off with the eldest Thunder Ranger.

The first indication was the weather, something that sounded a bit humorous to any who said it aloud but it had been storming on and off for the past three weeks in accordance with his disappearances. Although he has joined back in the training exercises, he had not once joined Blake and Dustin at the track, nor was he seen in town besides work and his ranger duties. The rest of the time he would escape into nature, meditating and brooding.

Cam was slowly boiling in his impatience with the other’s attitude towards the team. Although he himself was by no means the poster child for emotional availability he was still aggravated with Hunter’s distance. He’d been formulating a plan of action while he encoded new improvements for their weapons and zords and at the soft beeping of his alarm clock, groaned when he realized he’d spent yet another night in front of the computer.

Stretching out cramped muscles he winced at the resounding pops from his spine as he straightened and made his way to the training room. Grabbing two training swords and padding quietly back into the main area of ops he quickly positioned himself at the entrance and knelt, the two swords placed ceremoniously before him.

Moments passed as he relaxed and began to lightly meditate and prepare himself for the confrontation with Hunter. He was planning on helping the younger man, whether he wanted the help or not. He became hyper aware of his surroundings, taking in the light chirping of alarm clocks and the sleepy shuffle of feet as the two other human inhabitants awoke and began preparing themselves for the day.

Almost twenty minutes later the two brothers grudgingly made their way from the quarter’s area of the underground operations area. Though Cam’s eyes were closed, he could distinctly feel the twin stares as they caught sight of his position in front of the exit.

“Cam, are you awake? Dude, you’re kinda in the way and we got to get to work, bro!” Blake called, a bit of a breeze flowing over Cam’s face as Blake waved a hand in front of the Asian’s face

Cam never moved, never twitched, refused to acknowledge the younger Thunder as he felt the body heat from his body move back to stand near his brother. The older Thunder hadn’t moved, hadn’t tried to get Cam’s acknowledgement, he just stared, waiting trying to figure out what would happen next with the oldest of their team.

Blake sighed and moved closer to the wall and moved passed Cam, his knee brushing the older man but still not managing to provoke a reaction out of the Samurai as he managed to get passed him and looked expectantly over his head at his brother, “Come on Bro, we’re going to be late if we don’t leave now!” He urged as Hunter sighed and moved forward.

This time however, a reaction was indeed brought forth by the movement. Cam shot his hand out, the sword on his lap now stretching out to block Hunter’s path as he stepped closer to the still kneeling man. “Uh Cam, I need to go,” Hunter muttered as Blake shifted impatiently.

Cam finally opened his dark eyes, rolling them gently up to meet the ice blue of the younger man in front of him. “Blake, take the car and go to work, inform Kelly that Hunter will be in later and that I will personally see that he is there and all of the work is completed,” Cam said quietly, his eyes never leaving the Crimson ranger before him.

Blake paused, his body thrumming with the tension that was quickly building in the room as his brother and Cam stared at each other. “Uh, sure bro, I’ll make sure she knows,” he agreed hesitantly before hesitating a bit longer.

Cam frowned as he felt the younger Thunder’s hesitation and broke the eye contact with Hunter to turn and look at Blake, “Problem?” He asked softly as he suddenly shot out the sword to stop Hunter from sneaking off.

Blake watched Cam’s thrust and Hunter’s quiet snarl, swallowing thickly in the suddenly charged air from the barely constrained current rolling off of his older brother. “Uh yeah, um Hunter has the keys,” he muttered as he looked down, his toe scuffing against the stone floor as he tried not to bring Hunter’s intense glare towards him.

Cam nodded before standing fluidly, his body rolling with the balls of his feet as he stepped towards the taller fair-haired man and reached slowly into his jacket pocket to withdraw the keys. “Have a good day, we’ll see you later,” he said absently as he tossed the keys back towards Blake.

Blake caught the keys and blinked down at them before looking back up to find Cam and Hunter hadn’t quite moved, though their energies were practically dancing, filling the room oppressively. “S…sure, I’ll see you later,” he muttered before practically fleeing the room.

Hunter watched Blake run off; his face set firmly, eyes flashing with the lightning he desperately tried not to release in the middle of ops. “What do you want, Cam?” He ground out tightly as he turned his attention back to the green clad Samurai before him. “What do you want with me?”

Cam smiled gently as he reached out the hand with the sword and then motioned the wooden blade towards the sword still sitting before the entrance. “I want you to fight me,” he whispered, the air caressing the words as his lips did, making Hunter shiver as he turned still charged eyes to meet the older man’s.

“Why, don’t you think I should go to work and do my duty there instead?” He asked his body tense as it always was recently.

Cam considered and took a step further away, the air loosing some of the choking intensity as their bodies realigned to the new distance between them.

“Although you do have a duty to perform and fulfill the responsibilities you have in your job at Storm Chargers, you also have a duty and responsibility to care for yourself, not only physically; which you are barely keeping up with, but emotionally as well, and there you are seriously neglecting yourself,” Cam said gently as he lifted the other sword from the floor and held it out to Hunter.

Hunter stared at the older man, his body tensing further in anticipation for what might happen next.

Cam exhaled, his body seeming to fortify itself with the next breath as he squared his shoulders and continued, “Therefore I want you to spar with me, fight me, and use me and my knowledge and skill to reclaim your center, your calm and your composure.”

Hunter watched, barely resisting the urge to step backwards as the other man came closer the sword still held out to him. “Fight you to find myself? That sounds pretty stupid,” he muttered as electrical currents burst from his fists to travel up his arms before they dispersed as quickly as they appeared.

Cam shook his head, the wooden sword tapping Hunter once on the arm, causing Crimson to start with the unexpected contact. “You’ve never really dealt with the knowledge of your sister’s death, or of your parents’ have you, you’ve never cried for them?” He asked softly as the younger man’s hand gently took hold of the sword.

Hunter flexed his hand around the handle of the sword and shook his head wordlessly in response. “I couldn’t, I had to be strong.”

Cam nodded before swiftly bringing his sword around to snap at Hunter’s thigh, smiling grimly as the older man barely managed to block the blow. “Fight me, Hunter,” he whispered before swinging around again to try the other’s defenses again.

And suddenly, he did.

They traded quick blows, the swords slowly giving way to kicks, which gave way to punches, which slowly gave way to tears as Hunter finally collapsed to the floor, tears streaming down his face as Cam gathered the other man close and held him.

Hunter suddenly screamed, his hands punching into Cam’s chest before gripping the other’s sweater and drawing him closer as he buried his face in the other’s neck and sobbed, howled and screamed for the loss of his family.

~*~*~

Eric walked into the stark hospital room, rolling his eyes and grinning softly at the sight that greeted him. Jane, the girl they’d found more than three weeks prior had been in numerous surgeries after their careful discussions with the doctors. She’d fortunately not had any negative reactions to the treatments and medicines and as the days progressed, the doctors seemed to be a lot more at ease in their ministrations.

She’d been carefully bathed before all of the casts were applied, and her hair had been washed carefully and braided. They’d been firm on the decision to keep it long, wanting to give her the opportunity to change it as she wished when she was coherent. So it sat piled on her pillow, the braid carefully coiled to keep it from tugging any of the wires.

He moved closer, a bouquet of tulips in the vase he’d bought at whim gently placed on the dresser near her bed as he shook Wes awake and handed him a sandwich and water from the cafeteria. He checked all of the monitors, making sure that they were all recording the appropriate data as he sat on the other side of the bed and gently stroked the girl’s hand.

He looked up to find Wes grinning at him and rolled his eyes, “I talked to the Doctor today, they said she’s been healing well, the infections finally gone and the incision sites and the metal pins have all set properly. They think it might be a good time to take her off most of the anesthetic. They obviously don’t want to drop her off of it completely, they want to make sure she doesn’t freak out when she wakes up, but they need to know who she is and they want to get her in physical therapy before her muscles get any worse.”

Eric nodded, his mind reeling with the possibilities of what might happen when she awoke. “I’ve checked with all of the missing persons’ records, no one matching her age and description has gone missing in the past year in this area. I’ve checked in a 20 mile radius, whoever left her there either wanted her dead or she’s been walking a lot further than we thought.” He responded as he sighed and shook his head in disgust. “Eat, I’m going to go get the Doctor and sign off on letting them drop the anesthetic.”

Wes nodded, smiling up at the dark haired man as he stalked off. Turning towards the bed he stroked her hand gently, mindful of the nearby injury and I.V. tube. “It’s alright Jane, you’re safe now,” he whispered gently as he leaned over and gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek.

The doctor bustled in a few moments later, smiling brightly at Wes as she began to efficiently check Jane’s vitals. “Alright, now the biggest thing will be getting her to not strain at the wires in her jaw, those will take another 3 weeks before they can come out. So what I’m going to do is take her down to a milder dose where she’ll still be really calm but be able to comprehend where she is and what she will and won’t be able to do.”

Wes nodded in understanding, smiling as Eric took up a protective stance over the bed. “So she’ll be able to hear us and understand but she still won’t be able to talk for quite a while right?”

The doctor nodded as she began to change the drip of medication in her I.V. “Yes that’s right, I’m going to explain about her being found, explain that you found her and will be helping her out until she finds her family, ask her to write down any family names or allergies or any information she thinks we’ll need, and then offer to let her communicate with a counselor.”

Eric considered and then agreed softly, “We also need to communicate to her that we understand she’s been through a lot but that neither Wes nor myself would ever consider hurting her, and that she’s very safe here,” he stated firmly as he settled into the chair that Wes had vacated to pace.

The doctor nodded and monitored the young girl for a few more minutes before gently speaking, “Hello Dear, my name is Amelia Hart, I’m a doctor at Silver Hills General Hospital,” she said gently as bright blue eyes opened. “I want you to understand you are not in trouble, you are currently being cared for by my staff, and they are all female. You’ve had some very extensive injuries treated, one of which was a broken jaw. You’ll not be able to comfortably talk for the next few weeks so to make this easier, please blink once if you understand or twice if you don’t.”

Eric watched as the blue eyes flashed around before blinking once.

Doctor Hart smiled down at her, “I’m going to keep you under a mild anesthetic, it will keep you calm and keep you from feeling too much pain, do you understand?”

The girl blinked once.

Doctor Hart smiled down at her as she checked the various casts and incision marks. “Do you know your name?”

The girl blinked once, her eyes still dreamy as she lay perfectly still.

Doctor Hart nodded once before motioning for Wes and Eric to come closer, “Dear, two police officers were the ones that found you, their names are Eric Meyers and Wes Collins, they’ve agreed to take care of you until we can contact your family. They wanted you to know that they will not hurt you for any reason and that you are safe in their care. Do you understand?”

The girl seemed to size them up, her eyes blinking once as she settled on them and then turned back to regard the Doctor.

The Doctor considered for a moment more before picking up a pad of paper and a pencil. “Can you write?”

The girl hesitated but then blinked twice.

Doctor Hart frowned then smiled softly, “Can you help me by blinking when I get to the right letters of your name?” She asked, smiling when the girl blinked once. It was a tedious process but they soon learned her name was Cheyenne.

Eric smiled, giving the doctor a look to stop the questions before smiling down at her gently, “Well Miss Cheyenne, we’ll let you get some sleep,” he said gently before showing her how to contact the nurse. “If you need them to call us, we’ll leave instructions with them to call us at any time you want to see us and we’ll come, alright?”

She considered him for a moment then blinked once.

He smiled down at her and slowly stroked her hand. “We’ll be by to see you in the morning; you just rest and try to feel better,” he said gently, smiling as Wes came up beside him and flashed her a small smile. “He’s right, we’ll be back soon.”

She blinked once more and then closed her eyes as they slowly left the room.

Wes was practically skipping down the hall as Eric walked more sedately with the Doctor. “So you have our phone numbers on call, at any time, day or night if she wants to see us, call and we’ll get here in about 20 minutes.”

Amelia smiled at him and noted it in Cheyenne’s chart. “We will indeed, you gentlemen have a good rest, we’ve got her taken care of.”

Wes thanked her as he shrugged his jacket on. Quickly turning and motioning Eric to follow him out to their cars. “So how about Chinese for dinner? I think we need to celebrate.”

Eric nodded before smirking at the other man, his own mood severely heightened by their first interaction with their charge. “Only if you’re buying it,” he teased back as he climbed into his car and grinned at Wes’ laughter.

“Sure, see you at home,” Wes called back before climbing onto his bike and taking off.

Eric smiled and pulled out of the parking lot, finally relaxing as the gentle jazz poured out of the speakers on his ride home.

~*~*~

It was much later in the night when Eric was woken by the ringing of his phone. Blearily looking at the clock he fumbled with the device momentarily before managing to answer it. “Meyers,” he answered hoarsely, clearing his throat as his door opened to reveal a wildly disarrayed Wes.

“Hello Mr. Meyers, this is Maggie on the night shift at General? Your ward, Jane; She’s asking for you.”

Eric was momentarily stunned from this proclamation and covered it quickly by kicking Wes when he sat down on his bed. “Did you notice the note put in about her name being Cheyenne?” He muttered as he sat up.

“I’m sorry sir, can you repeat that? I didn’t quite catch what you said.” The nurse cheerfully responded as Eric waved Wes off to get dressed.

“Sorry, talking to myself, we’ll be right there.” He returned before hanging up and standing with a groan as his back popped, “Come on, get ready, the kid wants to see us.”

Wes nodded, standing and swaying in place for a moment as he got his bearings, “Did they say anything was wrong?” He asked tiredly as he trudged towards the door.

Eric grunted as he pulled on a pair of well worn jeans, “No, but it doesn’t matter, welcome to parenthood Wes, she cries, we come to soothe.” He joked playfully as he grabbed a black t-shirt and shoved his feet in sandals. “Now hurry up, can’t keep her waiting,” he grumbled as Wes reappeared from his room with a shirt in hand. “I’m driving; why don’t you try to get dressed by the time we get there huh?”

Wes gave him a sheepish grin as he followed the slightly older man out of the house and into the cool night. He locked the door behind them, shivering as he quickly made his way to the car Eric had idling in the driveway.

The ride was quick, having no traffic to fight through on their way to the hospital and they made their way towards Cheyenne’s room. Eric took charge immediately, nodding to the nurses and taking the lead as he knocked twice and slowly opened the door to their Ward’s room. Wes smiled at the girl on the bed, yawning behind his hand as he followed Eric to her bedside.

Eric gave the girl a small smile as he sat down next to her, gently patting her hand as he glared at the yawning blonde across from them and grin forming on his lips as he saw her eyes brighten. “Hey kiddo, what’s up?” He asked softly as he stroked Cheyenne’s hair soothingly.

She attempted a hesitant smile, her lips curling back but unable to fully stretch with the wires holding her jaw in place. “You came! I wasn’t sure that it was real,” she said carefully, her words understandable but muffled.

Wes leaned forward his hand gently stroking down her cheek and drawing dark blue eyes to meet his own, “Well of course its real, we’re going to care for you; at least until we find your family.”

Cheyenne had focused on Wes as he spoke despite her eyes occasionally flitting to Eric as if to assure herself that he was still in his seat. When Wes spoke of her family however her reaction was surprising. She had completely closed down with the final word of his statement, her features shutting down, her eyes growing cold and her entire demeanor growing old and tense.

Eric shot Wes a small frown, his hand gently scooping Cheyenne’s up from the bed, “Cheyenne, dear what is it?” He asked softly as Wes scooted closer and gently stroked her other hand.

She shook her head in response, tears beginning to stream down her face.

Eric sighed and slowly hummed under his breath as he let his hand gently keep hold of hers, “Cheyenne, we can’t help if you don’t tell us what is wrong,” he informed her, a bit of his typical firmness creeping back into his voice.

Her bright blue eyes opened, taking in the two men on either side of her warily. Finally she let out a small sigh and closed them again, “Please don’t send me back to him!” She begged the fear easily apparent in her face and voice, “Just kill me now if that is all you’re going to do!” She pleased, opening her eyes again to find horrified expressions marring their features.

“Cheyenne; do you know who did this to you?” Wes asked carefully as Eric retrieved a tissue and gently dried the tears from her cheeks and eyes.

The young girl carefully nodded her body shivering as she pulled her hands away and hid them in her blanket. “My Cousin and legal Guardian, Michael Clarke,” she whispered, a soft sob following the confession as pressure seemed to lift from her chest and fresh tears fell in silvery trails down her face.

Eric met Wes’ eyes and nodded sharply causing the blond man to leave quietly, “Cheyenne, hunny how long has this been going on?” he asked gently, his voice uncharacteristically timid.

She opened grief darkened eyes, and he marveled to himself at their rich almost purple color as they searched his face, “Since I was four,” she said quietly, flinching for a moment as he brought his hand closer, only relaxing as he gently dabbed her tears away and pulled his hand back from her face.

Eric nodded and stood from the seat next to her bed, “Hunny, we’ll be back soon, we’re going to make sure that lowlife creep never sees or touches you again.”

She turned warily hopeful eyes up to meet his before the former ghost of a smile slowly reappeared, “Do you promise?” She asked him with an almost childlike intensity.

Eric nodded, a dark expression firming his features as he slipped on his sunglasses and turned towards the door. Turning back as his hand wrapped around the door handled he smiled at her, “Oh yeah, I promise.”


A/N: SQUEALS! Ok so there we go, forth chapter… next one will be awesome, Wes is going to be itching to spend some money on their new ward and Michael’s going to get what is coming to him… I hope you loved it… Please tell me what you thought and I’m so sorry for the delay once again! I promise to get the other up in a timelier manner… I found out how to edit videos for YouTube and kinda got sidetracked…