Guardian Angel

by

Moviemom44

Author's Note: I do not own "Walker, Texas Ranger", a fact that should be obvious, because if I did own it, I certainly would have insisted the writers come up with a better ending for 'Unsafe Speed.' What were those people thinking?

The explosion nearly blew Sydney out of his arms.

The blast that destroyed the Raptors' meth lab shook Gage like a rag doll, but somehow he managed to hold on to his injured partner as he stumbled forward. He hit his knees, laid her on the ground and shielded her petite body with his own as burning debris fell from the sky.

"Gage! Move it!" Walker shouted from several yards ahead. He had stopped just long enough to finish handcuffing Grangus and then ran on, dragging the gang leader by one arm.

Gage scooped the now unconscious woman up again, cradling her against his broad chest as gently as running at full speed would allow. He glanced down and noticed a large, angry bruise in the shape of a fist on her left cheek. As soon as she was safe, he was going to personally deliver a matching blow to Grangus' face.

When they reached the Raptor's camp, Trivette and several other law enforcement officers were waiting along with two ambulances. Gage didn't slow down until he had laid Sydney on one of the available gurneys. As he did, she stirred and moaned in pain.

"Syd? Syd, honey, you're OK now. You're gonna be OK," he assured her, clasping her hand. He reached up and smoothed a strand of hair away from her eyes as they fluttered open.

She tried to see the face of the person leaning over her, but she couldn't seem to get her eyes to focus. She tried squinting, but that made her head throb even harder, so she gave up and closed her eyes again. Then she heard his voice and her heart jumped into her throat.

"Syd, look at me again, sweetie. Open your—whoa!"

She sat bolt upright on the stretcher. Her eyes wild and unseeing, she clutched at Gage's jacket with amazing strength for someone who two seconds ago was out cold.

"Gage! You have to get out of here! It's gonna blow! Leave me—you have to get out!" she screamed.

Gage wrapped his arms around her and forced her to lie down again, pinning her to the gurney with his bulky frame. He held her face in his hands, willing her to focus on his face as he spoke softly but firmly.

"Sydney, listen to me. We all got out, honey. The lab blew up, but I got you out in time. You're gonna be OK," he soothed. When he saw recognition coalesce in her eyes, he leaned down so he could whisper in her ear. "I would never leave you, baby. Not even to save my own life."

With that, her arms came up and tightened around his shoulders, holding him to her in a vice grip.

"Stay with me. I need you," she whispered back.

"I'm not going anywhere, darlin', but I have to move now, so the medics can have a look at you. I'm coming with you to the hospital. I promise I won't leave you." He pulled her arms away from him, eased off of her and stepped back so the two EMTs could load her into the ambulance. As soon as she was secured, he climbed in beside her.

"We'll follow you as soon as we're done here," Trivette told him. "She's tough as they come, man. She's gonna be fine," he added before slamming the rear doors shut and thumping on them twice, signaling 'all clear' to the driver.

As the ambulance moved slowly forward over the dirt path toward the entrance to the Raptors' camp, Gage forced down the lump in his throat. He couldn't fall apart now. He had to be strong for her. There'd be plenty of time later to think about how close he had come to losing her. Then he would cry like a baby.

-----

She could hear something beeping, rhythmically, steadily. After a few seconds, she realized the beeps were keeping time with her own heartbeat. She knew the darkness that enveloped her would swiftly recede as soon as she opened her eyes, but for now she was content, comfortable even, to stay in the dark, just listening to the reassuring sound of life pulsing through her.

Some time ago—she had no idea how long it had been—she was sure her life had come to a violent end in the blast triggered by Grangus' chemical bomb. She remembered a deafening roar and a blinding light and then a dark silence. Within the soundless night she could still feel herself moving, not under her own power, but as though she were being carried by someone very strong. An image of Jesus had flashed through her mind and she knew a moment of utter joy as she pictured him bearing her up to heaven.

But then the familiar and very earthbound scent of her partner's woodsy cologne penetrated her consciousness and she knew that it wasn't the Lord carrying her, but Gage. For one tiny instant, the two possibilities merged in her concussed brain and joy turned to terror as her worst nightmare sprang into vivid focus in her mind. Gage had died, too, trying to save her, and his spirit was with her in the hereafter, two souls intertwined so completely that she could actually feel him holding her. Her heart rent in two, torn apart by her conflicting emotions; immense sadness that his life was cut short because of her, and boundless happiness that they would be together for all eternity. And then her last strand of consciousness had snapped, plunging her into oblivion.

Another sound invaded her hazy mind. This one was also rhythmic, but certainly not mechanical. It sounded like someone was gargling gravel. Now it was definitely time to open her eyes.

As she did, she turned her head toward the sound. A feeling of tenderness so profound it hurt washed over her as she gazed at her partner, sound asleep in the chair beside her hospital bed, snoring.

He had stayed, just like he said he would.

His handsome features were bathed in sunshine from the window on the other side of her bed. The warm glow and his peaceful expression combined to give him an angelic appearance, which fit her estimation of him perfectly.

He was her guardian angel, her beloved rescuer. Her man.

She watched him sleep, remembering bits and pieces of what happened at the meth lab. Grangus punching her so hard she blacked out. Waking up handcuffed to a table leg. Struggling to free herself as she watched the timer tick inexorably toward detonation. Seeing the terror in Gage's eyes as he searched frantically for a way to save her. Feeling her arm jerk as he kicked at the metal table leg over and over. Being swept up in his arms as the universe splintered into a million pieces.

Sydney tried to sit up a little straighter so she could reach out and touch him, not necessarily to wake him, but to have tangible proof that he was real and alive. The effort made her head swim and her stomach roll, so she settled back against the pillows, closed her eyes and waited for the room to stop spinning.

Sleep, my love. I wonder, will you dream of me?

She smiled at the possibilities as she drifted off again.

-----

Gage woke with a start, his eyes popping open to reveal a tiled ceiling and a fluorescent light fixture directly overhead. When he attempted to sit up, his neck muscles screamed in protest. His head had apparently flopped over the back of the chair while he slept and now he couldn't lift it to save his life, or at least not without considerable pain.

Letting out a loud groan, he forced his neck to cooperate and return his head to an upright position. Grasping the arms of the chair with both hands, he was then able to bend his outstretched legs at the knees, put his feet flat on the floor and push himself out of the chair.

Once on his feet, he glanced at the bed. It was empty.

His heart shut down. His knees shook. He found himself in the chair again.

A loud, wet whooshing sound filled the room as he watched Sydney emerge from the bathroom. His heart restarted, but he was still too dazed with relief at the sight of her to stand up.

"Are you OK?" she posed, her face a mask of deep concern.

Gage burst out laughing. Here he thought she'd been rushed off somewhere in some desperate attempt to save her life, while he slept through it, for God's sake. Or worse…well, he didn't need to think about worse…and she was asking him if he was OK? It was downright hysterical.

"What's so funny?" She looked almost irritated at his off-kilter reaction to her inquiry.

Still chuckling, he found the strength to stand up again and opened his arms, intending to walk over and hug her. Before he could take his first step, she was already wrapping herself around him. He never even saw her move; she was just suddenly there, clinging to him so tightly he thought she might go right through him. His arms settled around her and he closed his eyes.

This is where you belong. Always.

The thought was so clear, so sharp, so right, leaving no doubt about his next words.

"Syd, will you marry me?"

She went perfectly still in his arms. The hands that had been gripping his shoulders went slack and dropped at his sides. She hunched her back against his arms, wanting to be let go. He obliged and she took two steps back.

She stared up at him, disbelief written all over her face. He couldn't possibly be serious. Or she was hearing things that weren't really there. The explosion must have somehow triggered an auditory hallucination. Marry him? He'd never even told her he loved her!

"But you don't even love me," she objected. Her voice sounded small and quivery.

"See, now that's where you're wrong. I do, Syd. I love you more than anything in the whole world," he corrected. He suddenly realized he'd gotten the order wrong. First comes the declaration of love, then the proposal. Oops.

"I need to sit down," Sydney declared.

"Do you need any help?" Gage asked, following her to the bed. He took her silence as acceptance of his offer. He pulled the covers back, waited for her to climb in and then tucked the sheet and blanket around her waist.

"Do you need another pillow?"

She shook her head. "No, I'm fine now. Your—uh—proposal just caught me by surprise is all," she confessed.

"The truth is it sort of came out of the blue for me, too. But that doesn't mean I wasn't serious, Syd. I meant every word." His eyes glowed with tender sincerity.

"What brought this on? We've been in dangerous situations before without the subject of marriage coming up. I know we had a close call yesterday, but I—?"

He was looking at her like she'd just beamed in from the Land of Dazed and Confused.

"What?" she asked in response to his expression.

"Yesterday? Sydney, when was the last time you and I talked?"

She thought back to their last conversation, pictured it in her mind, heard his words in her head.

"In the meth lab. You were telling me you were going to get us out. You said I should turn my face away when you kicked the table leg out. You lifted me up, carried me outside. You yelled to Walker that the lab was going to blow. Gage, you already know all this. What's going on?"

"When was that, Syd?"

"I told you. Yesterday." What began as agitation was quickly morphing into fear. What wasn't he telling her?

"No, Syd. It was three days ago. The longest damn three days of my entire life."

His words hit her like a fist. Frantically, she searched her memory for something, anything more recent than the explosion. Slowly, an image developed, like a Polaroid picture, beginning with the outline of a person in a chair and then filling in details. Gage's face came into focus, his eyes closed, his expression peaceful. Colors began to shift from greenish gray to blues, blonds, browns, and tans.

"I saw you sleeping in the chair earlier," she recalled, her eyes focused on some middle distant point, like she was seeing it all again. "I was so happy because you stayed, like you promised you would. I wanted to touch you, but I was too dizzy to sit up, so I laid down and went back to sleep. When I woke up again, you were still asleep. I needed to use the bathroom, but figured I could do it by myself, so I let you sleep. You must have woke up right after that."

She looked directly at Gage again. Something about the Gage in front of her and the one in the Polaroid memory didn't match. Then she figured it out.

Polaroid Gage was wearing a brown shirt and tan slacks. In-the-flesh Gage was wearing blue jeans and a black t-shirt. He was telling the truth.

"Sydney, at least two days passed between the two times you saw me sleeping in this chair," he told her, pointing to the low-backed green vinyl seat. "Do you remember anything else since coming to the hospital?"

"No, nothing. Did something happen? Gage, what aren't you telling me?" She was trembling with panic. She had felt fine when she woke up a little while ago. She wasn't dizzy; her head only hurt a little. Her cheek was bruised, but it wasn't painful anymore. Now her head was spinning for an entirely different reason.

"Honey, you lost consciousness in the ambulance on the way here. The doctors ran every test in the book, but everything came back normal. They couldn't figure out why you were still unconscious. Finally, they said either you would wake up when you were ready…or you wouldn't wake up at all."

"But I did wake up, at least once. I know I saw you sitting in the chair, sleeping. I even heard you snoring," she insisted.

"Your doctors will want to know about that, I'm sure. I'll call the nurse in here in a minute, but first, there's something else I need to tell you."

"What is it?" Her words were laced with uncertainty.

"I had a lot of time to think while I sat here and watched you sleep. And I swore that if I ever got the chance again, I would tell you all the things I thought about. You're right, Syd. We have had a lot of close calls, and until now, I've not been inspired to propose. But, that was before I knew what my life would be like if I lost you forever," he said quietly. He reached out and took her hand, sat down on the bed beside her.

"I didn't think I could ever be more scared than when Julie went missing," he continued. "I was wrong. That doesn't even come close to how terrified I was while I was kicking that table leg. Nothing mattered except getting you out of there. I was going to get you out or die trying, Syd. I would never have left you." His voice was thick with emotion. Tears filled his sky blue eyes.

"I think I knew in that moment that if we lived through it, I would never want to leave you again. Not even for a minute. I knew I was in love with you long before that, but I kept waiting for the right time to tell you. Suddenly, the time was about to run out. I was so scared that one or both of us would die before I got the chance to tell you how I felt. I don't think I could have lived with that kind of regret."

She reached up and touched his face, wiped away a tear with her thumb.

"You never left me once the whole time, did you?" Her eyes were wide with wonder.

"No, I didn't. I ate the meals the nurses brought for you. I showered here and Walker and Trivette brought me clean clothes every day. The first night the nurses tried to get me to go home, but I told them they'd have to drag me out bodily. After that, they just accepted that I wasn't going anywhere."

"My guardian angel," she murmured as she slid her hand around behind his head and gently tugged him toward her.

He went willingly, letting the warmth of her touch seep into his soul. He shifted so that his back was on the pillows and she lifted the covers so he could slide in next to her. He kicked off his shoes and stretched out beside her, wrapping his arms around her as she laid her head on his chest.

"Are you OK? I'm not hurting you, am I?" he asked.

She lifted her head and looked directly into his eyes. Every dream she'd ever had was waiting for her in those blue depths. She smiled and shook her head.

"No, you're not hurting me at all. But you might if you don't kiss me this minute," she cajoled.

Gage was only too happy to comply. He slanted his lips over hers, tentatively at first, gently nipping at her upper lip, barely skimming her lower one with his tongue. He slid his hand from her back to her nape and then into her silky hair, anchoring her to him as his mouth became more insistent.

She matched him breath for breath as the kiss went on and on. She parted her lips and welcomed his smooth tongue with a soft moan of delight.

That happy sound aroused him more than anything he'd ever known and he rolled her over onto her back, pressing her into the mattress. He could feel her nipples harden right through her hospital gown and his t-shirt. The sensation set off an internal alarm he didn't know he possessed. As much as it pained him, he realized that they had better stop while they still could.

"Oh, Syd," he said when he could finally bring himself to release her lips, "that was amazing."

"Yes, it was, wasn't it?" she agreed, grinning from ear to ear. "We should do it again sometime."

He chuckled. "Yes, we should, lots of times. But I think you still owe me an answer to my question."

"Ask me again."

"Sydney Cooke, I love you with all my heart and soul. I will love you right down to my dying breath and even after that. I now know that a life without you is no life at all. Will you make me the happiest man alive and agree to be my wife?"

"There's nothing I've ever wanted more than to be your wife," she replied, and then with a lift of her eyebrow, added, "Well, maybe another one of those kisses."

And he gave her exactly what she wanted, not just then, but every day of their lives.

The End.