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archetTitle: Angels Ain’t Easy
Author: Archet
Pairing: OMC Jody McKinnon/Matt Hawkes
Fandom: High Mountain Rangers
Summary: a story of falling in love, figuring things out and just holding on.
Disclaimer: I did not create the High Mountain Ranger character/s, only this fic and the Original Male Character, Jody McKinnon, and any other original characters in supporting roles. No copyright infringement is intended.
Notes: this fic is set in 1989, approximately a year and a half after the events of the final episode of High Mountain Rangers. There will be no acknowledgment of the events of the spin-off show Jesse Hawkes.
Warnings: none as yet
Note: this fic takes place a little over four months after Bad Luck, Bad Guys and High Mountain Rangers and is a sequel to that fic, so reading that first is recommended.
Additional: this fic will depict same sex relationships. If this ain’t your thing, venture no further.
***Additional story notes and etc at end of chapter***
~*~
Chapter 3: It’s Six O’clock Somewhere
Just past five o’clock, Matt started feeling nervous. His shift ended at six, and they’d agreed that Jody would come by at six-thirty to pick him up for their date. That should give him just enough time catch a shower and change clothes before Jody arrived, that is, if the station didn’t catch a call.
It’d been unusually quiet all afternoon, the phone not ringing even once. It’d given Matt a chance to catch up on some paperwork; or rather it would have, if only he could concentrate properly. He’d spent the last half hour pushing papers around on his desk, making little headway in organizing the mess he’d made of the budget binder earlier in the day.
As a kid staring out his bedroom window at the latest snowstorm and dreaming of becoming a High Mountain Ranger, he’d envisioned all sorts of adventures, skiing through howling storms, scaling towering cliff sides. Scaling ever increasing stacks of paperwork hadn’t been included in his childhood daydreams of heroic deeds. It was the one thing they didn’t warn you about on the MSR, the Mountain Search and Rescue application, that formally submitted your request to enter ranger training, and the red tape seemed to become only more demanding with each passing year.
As the Lead Ranger at the station it was up to Matt to sign off on all reports, and make certain everything was in order administratively. Though he’d become more adept at managing these office duties over time, he would never enjoy that part of the job, and he’d begun training Izzy on certain aspects, not just to take some of the load off Matt, but to become accustomed to this aspect of the job alongside his field training. In Matt’s opinion, anyone considering rangering as a career ought to be prepared for everything. Resigned to his fate, he made a valiant attempt to read through the budget figures again, but it was useless, his mind kept wandering back to lunch, back to Jody.
The man had a hold on Matt that he just couldn’t quantify, couldn’t slot neatly into the borderlines of simple infatuation or physical attraction. In the couple of days he and Jody had spent with one another, they’d fought for their lives, faced death, and had come out whole on the other side, together. Together they’d made it through, and now, with Jody’s sudden appearance today, something inside Matt felt as if it was coming awake.
He’d buried vital parts of himself in the wake of his broken relationship last year. Parts of himself that needed, that wanted, and now these things were resurfacing, lured back to the light by Jody’s warm, focused interest in him. Somehow the man evoked a depthless warmth in Matt whenever he was near, and it was wonderfully, thrillingly physical, and instinctual, and easy. Matt was a little wary of just how easy it was, feeling the way he did when he was with Jody, and he didn’t know what to call it, didn’t have a name for it.
Whatever it was shimmering between them it seemed to want to fill all the chilly, empty spaces in his battered trust with light and heat, and Matt wanted to welcome it, wanted to forget the painful lessons of the past year.
But lessons were learned for a reason.
Tapping the capped end of his pen against the spine of the binder, Matt exhaled as thoughts of Jonathan, his ex, intruded onto his sweet, nervous excitement as he waited for the clock hands to swing around to six-thirty. He didn’t want to think of his ex-boyfriend right now, not with a net of anticipation settling over him at the thought of seeing Jody again so soon. As usual, though, his brain had other plans.
Jonathan Silva, his boyfriend for of a grand total of four months, had taught Matt many lessons, some sweet, incredibly so, and some hard to reconcile. The last lesson had been taught one fall day as Matt had arrived home to find the extra set of keys to his house tossed on the kitchen counter, and the extra drawer in his dresser hanging open and empty. Like the north wind, as quickly as Jonathan had bullied his way into Matt’s life, he’d blown right back out again, leaving no note, no forwarding address and no explanation.
The only memento left behind had been a carved jade hawk the size of Matt’s closed fist, on his kitchen table. The piece had been on display in one of the resorts Jonathan managed around Lake Tahoe. Part of an exhibit to draw a more moneyed crowd to the newly built resort, it had sat in a glass case, lit from above, a glowing green emblem of the mountains designed to tantalize the eye. Despite Matt’s objections at the price, which was substantial, Jonathan had insisted on buying the hawk, swearing that the jade matched the shade of Matt’s eyes perfectly. He’d presented it to Matt casually, a pleased grin on his handsome face.
Matt had a hazy memory of wrapping the hawk up and shoving it onto a box someplace after Jonathan’s abandonment, not able to stand the sight of it, but neither able to discard or destroy the exquisitely carved gemstone.
Shaking his head, Matt shrugged off the unwanted thoughts of his AWOL ex, and glanced at his watch. Five-thirty. Abandoning all pretense of organizing the reports on his desk, he leaned back in his chair, and mentally brought up the image of Jody from earlier in the day. Any lingering thoughts of Jonathan evaporated. A smile stretched across his face, and then was quickly stifled as Tim emerged from the back room carrying a large black duffel bag. Tim’s last name, Hart, was displayed on the side of the bag, stitched onto a removable Velcro patch.
Much like firemen who kept their turnout gear prepped, ready to go at a moment’s notice, the rangers each had their own ‘go’ bag. Each was stored in the gear room of the station and kept in a constant state of readiness. Routinely the bags were inspected and repacked.
Tim had spent the last several minutes organizing his bag after doing a regular check, verifying its contents, confirming all was in its proper place. There was little less unforgivable for a ranger than getting into the field only to find that a vital piece of gear had been left behind. It could be the difference in life or death. Each ranger was responsible for maintaining his or her own equipment, and each member treated the responsibility seriously.
Zipping up the bag, satisfied that all was in good order, Tim placed it in the chair across from Matt’s desk. Hitching up his hip, he half sat, half leaned on the end of Matt’s desk on the one bare spot not overwhelmed by papers or binders.
Matt raised a brow. “You realize there’s a perfectly good chair, right there, right?”
Tim shrugged. “You realize you’ve been staring at that same report for the past hour, right?”
Groaning, Matt scrubbed a hand over his eyes. “I have not.”
“Thirty minutes?”
Scowling, Matt looked up at the dark haired, dark eyed ranger. “Aren’t you supposed to be doing something useful?”
“Like what?”
“Like anything, anywhere else but here,” Matt supplied.
Tim grinned. “Oh, come on. You’re not nervous, are you?”
Tossing his pen aside, Matt sighed. “No.”
“Right,” Tim said, teasing glint in his eyes. “You’re never this distracted, not even when it comes to the budget report. Why don’t you kick out early? There’s nothing going on here.”
Matt leaned back in his chair, the spring in the seatback creaking as he reclined, stretching out his long legs under the desk. Tim wanted to get a reaction out of him, and Matt knew it drove his friend crazy when Matt went the opposite direction. He put on a bored expression.
“Maybe.”
A flash of annoyance passed over Tim’s face, quickly concealed. Matt suppressed a grin as he watched Tim pick up his discarded pen, and started twirling it through the fingers of one hand.
“There’s life outside this station, you know that?”
Matt regarded his friend with a placating look. “Yes, dad. You do realize that I’m going on a date? I’d say that qualifies as seeking out a life outside of work, don’t you?”
Tim tilted his head, considering. “And how many dates have you been on since Silva?”
Now it was Matt’s turn to cover his own annoyance. He sat up in his chair, rolling it closer to his desk. “Maybe you should date Jonathan, if you can find him. You like talking about him so much.”
Matt had managed not to sound petulant, but only barely. Jonathan was still a sore spot, and Tim knew exactly how much pressure to apply when it suited him.
“I talk about him because you don’t, buddy. It’s not healthy.”
Feeling his annoyance sieve away as quickly as it’d come, Matt allowed the legitimate weariness he felt on the topic to filter his voice. “I know, and I hear you, but I just don’t want to dwell on it. He left. He’s gone, and I hope I never see him again.”
Tim’s brow lifted. That was probably the most Matt had shared with his friend on the prohibited subject of his former boyfriend since the day Jonathan had up and disappeared. Initially, there’d been fears of foul play, but after placing half a dozen phone calls verging on frantic, Matt had reached Jonathan’s assistant who’d told Matt in a carefully worded apology by proxy, that Mr. Silva had, very regrettably, reassessed their relationship, and had decided to return to his home in Las Vegas having concluded that his time in Bear Valley had come to an end.
Come to an end …and what an efficient, precise way to crack a heart into.
Tim had endured by Matt’s side in the days afterwards, watching worriedly as Matt nursed his bruised heart, throwing himself into his work, taking on extra shifts and sleeping at the station when he couldn’t bear sleeping in his own empty bed. Tim had brought him soup, and cherry pie, practically force feeding him that first week when Matt felt more like a living scarecrow than an actual person. He’d been all stuffing an no brain, just running on autopilot for a length of days before resignation set in, and then anger, grief and finally, acceptance.
“Well,” Tim said quietly, mindful of Izzy mumbling in the back room, busy taking an inventory of the supply closet. “I’m glad something finally got through that thick Hawkes skull.”
Matt smirked, and reaching out, snagged his pen from Tim’s fingers. “You know, I think I will knock off early. I am the boss, after all.”
Tim snorted, pushing away from the desk. “I think that’s called delusions of grandeur actually, but, okay.”
Matt rolled his eyes, and reaching into his pants pocket for the folded square of paper inscribed with the phone number of the hotel where Jody was staying, frowned as the phone at the front desk rang. He shared a resigned glance with Tim, who loped across the short distance to grab the handset from its cradle. From the back room, there came a crash and a cruse, and Izzy came hurrying up the hallway, a clipboard in hand. Matt waved him off, and Izzy nodded, spotting Tim already on the phone, having tucked the handset against his shoulder as he scribbled notes on a notepad.
After a few seconds listening to the caller on the other end, Tim said, “Got it,” and hung up. He tore the page from the notepad, and turned to face Matt, apologetic expression justifying the sinking feeling in Matt’s stomach.
“We got a hot one. Three hikers up in Crow Creek Canyon managed to get themselves down into the wash-out. Confirmed broken leg on one, condition of the other two is unclear.”
Fingers tightening around the square of paper he held, Matt opened his desk drawer, and dropped it in. Stepping out from around his desk he headed to the gear room, and grabbed the bag emblazoned with ‘Hawkes” on its patch.
“All right, call everybody in and get geared up. It’s go time.”
His date with Jody would have to wait, no matter how much Matt wished otherwise.
****Additional Notes****
Okay, I know we're inching along, but I swear these two will actually get together, but you know, can't make it too easy because...angels ain't easy. (ba dum tish!) LOL
As an aside, I never know exactly how to refer to Matt's official position. I don't recall there being anything mentioned in the show as a ranking system, like a Captain, and so forth, so I'm just referring to his as the 'lead' ranger...if anyone knows any different drop me a comment.
Also, Matt's ex has insisted that he be part of this story, so we'll see where that goes. Of course, I wanted to start having our other rangers start to show up, so here we have Tim making an appearance. I think of him and Matt as best buds.
All for now, peace out!
Author: Archet
Pairing: OMC Jody McKinnon/Matt Hawkes
Fandom: High Mountain Rangers
Summary: a story of falling in love, figuring things out and just holding on.
Disclaimer: I did not create the High Mountain Ranger character/s, only this fic and the Original Male Character, Jody McKinnon, and any other original characters in supporting roles. No copyright infringement is intended.
Notes: this fic is set in 1989, approximately a year and a half after the events of the final episode of High Mountain Rangers. There will be no acknowledgment of the events of the spin-off show Jesse Hawkes.
Warnings: none as yet
Note: this fic takes place a little over four months after Bad Luck, Bad Guys and High Mountain Rangers and is a sequel to that fic, so reading that first is recommended.
Additional: this fic will depict same sex relationships. If this ain’t your thing, venture no further.
***Additional story notes and etc at end of chapter***
~*~
Chapter 3: It’s Six O’clock Somewhere
Just past five o’clock, Matt started feeling nervous. His shift ended at six, and they’d agreed that Jody would come by at six-thirty to pick him up for their date. That should give him just enough time catch a shower and change clothes before Jody arrived, that is, if the station didn’t catch a call.
It’d been unusually quiet all afternoon, the phone not ringing even once. It’d given Matt a chance to catch up on some paperwork; or rather it would have, if only he could concentrate properly. He’d spent the last half hour pushing papers around on his desk, making little headway in organizing the mess he’d made of the budget binder earlier in the day.
As a kid staring out his bedroom window at the latest snowstorm and dreaming of becoming a High Mountain Ranger, he’d envisioned all sorts of adventures, skiing through howling storms, scaling towering cliff sides. Scaling ever increasing stacks of paperwork hadn’t been included in his childhood daydreams of heroic deeds. It was the one thing they didn’t warn you about on the MSR, the Mountain Search and Rescue application, that formally submitted your request to enter ranger training, and the red tape seemed to become only more demanding with each passing year.
As the Lead Ranger at the station it was up to Matt to sign off on all reports, and make certain everything was in order administratively. Though he’d become more adept at managing these office duties over time, he would never enjoy that part of the job, and he’d begun training Izzy on certain aspects, not just to take some of the load off Matt, but to become accustomed to this aspect of the job alongside his field training. In Matt’s opinion, anyone considering rangering as a career ought to be prepared for everything. Resigned to his fate, he made a valiant attempt to read through the budget figures again, but it was useless, his mind kept wandering back to lunch, back to Jody.
The man had a hold on Matt that he just couldn’t quantify, couldn’t slot neatly into the borderlines of simple infatuation or physical attraction. In the couple of days he and Jody had spent with one another, they’d fought for their lives, faced death, and had come out whole on the other side, together. Together they’d made it through, and now, with Jody’s sudden appearance today, something inside Matt felt as if it was coming awake.
He’d buried vital parts of himself in the wake of his broken relationship last year. Parts of himself that needed, that wanted, and now these things were resurfacing, lured back to the light by Jody’s warm, focused interest in him. Somehow the man evoked a depthless warmth in Matt whenever he was near, and it was wonderfully, thrillingly physical, and instinctual, and easy. Matt was a little wary of just how easy it was, feeling the way he did when he was with Jody, and he didn’t know what to call it, didn’t have a name for it.
Whatever it was shimmering between them it seemed to want to fill all the chilly, empty spaces in his battered trust with light and heat, and Matt wanted to welcome it, wanted to forget the painful lessons of the past year.
But lessons were learned for a reason.
Tapping the capped end of his pen against the spine of the binder, Matt exhaled as thoughts of Jonathan, his ex, intruded onto his sweet, nervous excitement as he waited for the clock hands to swing around to six-thirty. He didn’t want to think of his ex-boyfriend right now, not with a net of anticipation settling over him at the thought of seeing Jody again so soon. As usual, though, his brain had other plans.
Jonathan Silva, his boyfriend for of a grand total of four months, had taught Matt many lessons, some sweet, incredibly so, and some hard to reconcile. The last lesson had been taught one fall day as Matt had arrived home to find the extra set of keys to his house tossed on the kitchen counter, and the extra drawer in his dresser hanging open and empty. Like the north wind, as quickly as Jonathan had bullied his way into Matt’s life, he’d blown right back out again, leaving no note, no forwarding address and no explanation.
The only memento left behind had been a carved jade hawk the size of Matt’s closed fist, on his kitchen table. The piece had been on display in one of the resorts Jonathan managed around Lake Tahoe. Part of an exhibit to draw a more moneyed crowd to the newly built resort, it had sat in a glass case, lit from above, a glowing green emblem of the mountains designed to tantalize the eye. Despite Matt’s objections at the price, which was substantial, Jonathan had insisted on buying the hawk, swearing that the jade matched the shade of Matt’s eyes perfectly. He’d presented it to Matt casually, a pleased grin on his handsome face.
Matt had a hazy memory of wrapping the hawk up and shoving it onto a box someplace after Jonathan’s abandonment, not able to stand the sight of it, but neither able to discard or destroy the exquisitely carved gemstone.
Shaking his head, Matt shrugged off the unwanted thoughts of his AWOL ex, and glanced at his watch. Five-thirty. Abandoning all pretense of organizing the reports on his desk, he leaned back in his chair, and mentally brought up the image of Jody from earlier in the day. Any lingering thoughts of Jonathan evaporated. A smile stretched across his face, and then was quickly stifled as Tim emerged from the back room carrying a large black duffel bag. Tim’s last name, Hart, was displayed on the side of the bag, stitched onto a removable Velcro patch.
Much like firemen who kept their turnout gear prepped, ready to go at a moment’s notice, the rangers each had their own ‘go’ bag. Each was stored in the gear room of the station and kept in a constant state of readiness. Routinely the bags were inspected and repacked.
Tim had spent the last several minutes organizing his bag after doing a regular check, verifying its contents, confirming all was in its proper place. There was little less unforgivable for a ranger than getting into the field only to find that a vital piece of gear had been left behind. It could be the difference in life or death. Each ranger was responsible for maintaining his or her own equipment, and each member treated the responsibility seriously.
Zipping up the bag, satisfied that all was in good order, Tim placed it in the chair across from Matt’s desk. Hitching up his hip, he half sat, half leaned on the end of Matt’s desk on the one bare spot not overwhelmed by papers or binders.
Matt raised a brow. “You realize there’s a perfectly good chair, right there, right?”
Tim shrugged. “You realize you’ve been staring at that same report for the past hour, right?”
Groaning, Matt scrubbed a hand over his eyes. “I have not.”
“Thirty minutes?”
Scowling, Matt looked up at the dark haired, dark eyed ranger. “Aren’t you supposed to be doing something useful?”
“Like what?”
“Like anything, anywhere else but here,” Matt supplied.
Tim grinned. “Oh, come on. You’re not nervous, are you?”
Tossing his pen aside, Matt sighed. “No.”
“Right,” Tim said, teasing glint in his eyes. “You’re never this distracted, not even when it comes to the budget report. Why don’t you kick out early? There’s nothing going on here.”
Matt leaned back in his chair, the spring in the seatback creaking as he reclined, stretching out his long legs under the desk. Tim wanted to get a reaction out of him, and Matt knew it drove his friend crazy when Matt went the opposite direction. He put on a bored expression.
“Maybe.”
A flash of annoyance passed over Tim’s face, quickly concealed. Matt suppressed a grin as he watched Tim pick up his discarded pen, and started twirling it through the fingers of one hand.
“There’s life outside this station, you know that?”
Matt regarded his friend with a placating look. “Yes, dad. You do realize that I’m going on a date? I’d say that qualifies as seeking out a life outside of work, don’t you?”
Tim tilted his head, considering. “And how many dates have you been on since Silva?”
Now it was Matt’s turn to cover his own annoyance. He sat up in his chair, rolling it closer to his desk. “Maybe you should date Jonathan, if you can find him. You like talking about him so much.”
Matt had managed not to sound petulant, but only barely. Jonathan was still a sore spot, and Tim knew exactly how much pressure to apply when it suited him.
“I talk about him because you don’t, buddy. It’s not healthy.”
Feeling his annoyance sieve away as quickly as it’d come, Matt allowed the legitimate weariness he felt on the topic to filter his voice. “I know, and I hear you, but I just don’t want to dwell on it. He left. He’s gone, and I hope I never see him again.”
Tim’s brow lifted. That was probably the most Matt had shared with his friend on the prohibited subject of his former boyfriend since the day Jonathan had up and disappeared. Initially, there’d been fears of foul play, but after placing half a dozen phone calls verging on frantic, Matt had reached Jonathan’s assistant who’d told Matt in a carefully worded apology by proxy, that Mr. Silva had, very regrettably, reassessed their relationship, and had decided to return to his home in Las Vegas having concluded that his time in Bear Valley had come to an end.
Come to an end …and what an efficient, precise way to crack a heart into.
Tim had endured by Matt’s side in the days afterwards, watching worriedly as Matt nursed his bruised heart, throwing himself into his work, taking on extra shifts and sleeping at the station when he couldn’t bear sleeping in his own empty bed. Tim had brought him soup, and cherry pie, practically force feeding him that first week when Matt felt more like a living scarecrow than an actual person. He’d been all stuffing an no brain, just running on autopilot for a length of days before resignation set in, and then anger, grief and finally, acceptance.
“Well,” Tim said quietly, mindful of Izzy mumbling in the back room, busy taking an inventory of the supply closet. “I’m glad something finally got through that thick Hawkes skull.”
Matt smirked, and reaching out, snagged his pen from Tim’s fingers. “You know, I think I will knock off early. I am the boss, after all.”
Tim snorted, pushing away from the desk. “I think that’s called delusions of grandeur actually, but, okay.”
Matt rolled his eyes, and reaching into his pants pocket for the folded square of paper inscribed with the phone number of the hotel where Jody was staying, frowned as the phone at the front desk rang. He shared a resigned glance with Tim, who loped across the short distance to grab the handset from its cradle. From the back room, there came a crash and a cruse, and Izzy came hurrying up the hallway, a clipboard in hand. Matt waved him off, and Izzy nodded, spotting Tim already on the phone, having tucked the handset against his shoulder as he scribbled notes on a notepad.
After a few seconds listening to the caller on the other end, Tim said, “Got it,” and hung up. He tore the page from the notepad, and turned to face Matt, apologetic expression justifying the sinking feeling in Matt’s stomach.
“We got a hot one. Three hikers up in Crow Creek Canyon managed to get themselves down into the wash-out. Confirmed broken leg on one, condition of the other two is unclear.”
Fingers tightening around the square of paper he held, Matt opened his desk drawer, and dropped it in. Stepping out from around his desk he headed to the gear room, and grabbed the bag emblazoned with ‘Hawkes” on its patch.
“All right, call everybody in and get geared up. It’s go time.”
His date with Jody would have to wait, no matter how much Matt wished otherwise.
****Additional Notes****
Okay, I know we're inching along, but I swear these two will actually get together, but you know, can't make it too easy because...angels ain't easy. (ba dum tish!) LOL
As an aside, I never know exactly how to refer to Matt's official position. I don't recall there being anything mentioned in the show as a ranking system, like a Captain, and so forth, so I'm just referring to his as the 'lead' ranger...if anyone knows any different drop me a comment.
Also, Matt's ex has insisted that he be part of this story, so we'll see where that goes. Of course, I wanted to start having our other rangers start to show up, so here we have Tim making an appearance. I think of him and Matt as best buds.
All for now, peace out!
