"Bobby"
Stephanie's loud, high pitched voice rand through Level 5 of the Rangeman building alerting every to the pissed off brunette that was exiting the elevator.
"Bobby! When I find you I am going to kill you"
The men all looked around, some searching for the man in question, some looking to see if anyone knew the reason for Stephanie's outburst, but all hoping the show down would happen in plain view or at least near one of the many camera's that the building hosted.
Ranger's office door opened and he peaked his head out,
"Babe"
In this case 'babe' meant; why are you yelling and threatening Bobby.
"Don't you 'Babe' me buddy!" Stephanie yelled at him, "just you wait till let you in on just why I want to kill him before you intervene" Stephanie said as she pushed past Ranger into his office.
The Merry men were shocked, Stephanie and Ranger had grown closer these past months, ever since the incident with Joe, and they were fairly sure that they were as close to in a relationship as two commitment-phobes could get.
Ranger's head poked out of the office into the still shocked silence,
"BROWN" he bellowed, when the silence continued he issues a general command to find the medic and get him into Rangers office as soon as possible by any means necessary.
The men were baffled as to what bobby could have done to upset both Ranger and Stephanie but hurried to fill the command never the less, not wanting Rangers anger to turn on them instead.
30 minutes later Bobby was escorted onto level 5 by Lester and Woody, Lester grinning clearly hoping to be able to see the fireworks that were bound to occur. Bobby looked perplexed, and a little fearful, after all Stephanie was not a woman to cross. A hush had fallen since the control room had alerted the floor to Bobby's arrival.
Ranger's office opened and out rushed a female looking blur that went straight for Bobby knocking him to the ground and screaming,
"Bobby Brown when I am finished with you, you will regret the day you were born! How could you ruin my life! I swear I will get you back if it's the last thing I ever do!"
while straddling and attempting to pummel the stunned man.
"Babe" Ranger said gently while trying to extract the now sobbing woman
"How could he not tell me? WHY?" as she sobbed into Ranger's shoulder.
The rest of the men looked on, all confused as to what was happening but all equally worried about their boss's woman. Some were glaring at Bobby, not sure what he did but knowing it must be huge to make Stephanie cry, especially in front of them.
"Ummmm…. " came the confused voice of Bobby, who was still on the floor "what did I do?"
That stopped Stephaine's tears, but the suddent flush to her cheeks alerted the men to her anger.
"WHAT DID YOU DO!" She screamed "Do you remember three months ago, at the physical when you suggested I try the depo shot? And I did… WELL YOU FORGOT TO MENTION THAT IT DOESN'T WORK WHEN COMBINED WITH ANTIBIOTICS LIKE THE ONES I HAD TO TAKE 2 MONTHS AGO FROM WHEN I FELL INTO THE POND AFTER BEING SHOT!"
Bobby, who was now standing, paled as he looked at Steph, then her stomach, then Ranger with a shocked and fearful expression,
"Shit" he gasped looking at Ranger, whose response was a swift punch to the jaw that knocked him back on his arse.
By this time few of the men had figured out what was happening and had frozen, staring at either Stephanie or Ranger while the rest looked on still wondering what was happening, it wasn't until Lester let out a low whistle and muttered about 'beautiful' having a different kind of bun in the oven that the majority understood, but Manny said it best,
"Shit Wifey's pregnant"
The silence was absolute. Everyone knew the Stephanie plum did NOT want to have children. Everyone knew Ranger NEVER wanted another child.
"How did that happen?" Hal burst out, before turning red and finding an extreme interest in the floor.
"Well you've all heard about what happened with Joe right?" Stephanie asked, refer to the incident just under a year ago where Joe, desperate to have 'his cupcake' settle down to his way of life, tampered with her Pill, secretly switched out the birth control ones for sugar pills.
Unfortunately the first Stephanie heard of this was almost 3 months after he switched them, when she was admitted to hospital after a distraction gone wrong.
She was elbowed to the stomach by the heavily muscled skip in his haste to escape, the blow from the elbow knocked her into the wall, hitting her head and knocking her unconscious. The trauma caused a miscarriage, which caused complications and three days later when she awoke she found out about the death of her baby.
After Joe confessed what he had done, she had ended all contact with him, but she still took the loss hard, vowing she would never have another pregnancy, after all she couldn't be trusted with the life of another.
A month later Stephanie was taking charge of her life, working full time at Rangeman, living there too, working out with the Merry Men every day and spending a lot of time on 7 with Ranger.
"When I did the initial physical, dumbass asked about my birth control method after what had happened, and told me about the Depo Shot. One injection every 3 month and you're covered," she sent him a glare "except apparently when mixed with antibiotics!"
Bobby cringed, he had sworn he had told her, or at least had meant to tell her, when she had her accident that it might affect the shot's effectiveness.
"How did you find out?" He dared to ask; almost offended she had visited another health professional.
"Mary-Lou" she sighed "apparently you throw up once in her house and she insists you pee on a stick."
They could tell Stephanie hadn't meant to say that last part aloud,
"Babe"
Ranger said with a small smile
"whatever" she replied then turned to glare at Bobby, "I will get you back for this! There will be a lot of diaper changes and late night feedings in your future!"
Stephanie turned and stormed towards the elevator, through the still unmoving merry men.
Once Stephanie had left the floor, the focus returned to Ranger and Bobby.
"Seriously man? How'd you fuck that up?" was Ranger's only question
"I don't know?" came the response "I could have sworn I told her, and I meant to mention it to you as well. I know neither of you wanted this."
"Is it really that bad?" asked a voice
The spot light was now on the previously unseen Ella, who had happened to be stocking the lunch room.
"Yes its dangerous and both of you have enemies but you both have friends too. DO you think anyone of these men would let something happened to either Stephanie or the baby? And yes Stephanie is scared but she has her mother and sister to help and I'll always be here for support and advice." Ella took on last look at Ranger and then headed to the stairs "I think I'll go upstairs and talk to Stephanie"
"Yeah, Congrats man" Lester yelled as he returned to his office, though he could be clearly heard muttering "Geeeez, a little bomber or rangeman… not sure we will survive"
As everyone returned to their work Ranger turned to leave, heading for the 7th floor, "Oh and Bobby? Tank will write up your shit list"
Tank, who was smiling, clapped him on the back "Step into my Office"
One month later Bobby was finally finished cleaning and re-organizing the gun range and storage room. Since Ella refused to inhale all the gun powder those two areas were usually in a state. Clean enough to be safe but every area was covered in grim.
Bobby's Shit list was 1) clean the gun range and storage room to perfection. 2) Clean and clear the rooftop area, including gutters 3) Clean and detail all the Rangemen fleet, making sure to restock all emergency supplies. 4) Re-organize the electronic storage room and re-order what is needed. 5) Wash all windows of the Rangeman building, inside and out.
It was office protocol that when someone messes up so bad that mat time doesn't cut it they are given a list of 5 items to complete, the 'shit list'. Mostly it was things that needed doing that no-one wanted to do. These must be completed as well as his usual Rangeman duties, which at the moment were monitor duty 5 days a week, unless the need for a medic arose, and paper work for the last day. Paper work that was meant to be filled out by Ranger but as he was now having to spend most of his time with a pregnant Stephanie, it was being delegated to him.
When Stephanie reached 5 months, Bobby usual duties became Bomber Watch, Body guarding Stephanie. This also came with fetching all her weird cravings and listening to her cry about the smallest thing, as well as rubbing her feet when they started hurting.
Stephanie had forgiven Bobby, as so to a certain extent had Ranger. While she wasn't happy to be pregnant she did love the child growing inside her. Ranger loved both Stephanie and the child but still resented the danger both would be in from his life. Bobby and Ranger's friendship would never recover, in Ranger's mind Bobby had broken the number one rule, Never Allow Stephanie To Be Hurt! The addition of a baby would increase the danger she would be in.
When the birth was in progress, much to the doctor's and nurse's surprise, it was Bobby who Stephanie hurled her insults and abuse. Ranger found this particularly funny but knew better to acknowledge that fact as he wanted to stay out of her firing line.
After 11 hours, as the first cries of the new baby boy sounded, Stephanie had one last thing to say to Bobby,
"Thank you"
Bobby smiled and left the new parents with their baby boy, bumping into Tank on his way out. He didn't noticed the prick of the injection or the smirk on Tanks face.
Waking up Bobby couldn't remember what the hell had happened, nor why he felt like shit. Taking a look around he noticed he was in a field, with two backpacks and a letter addressed to him.
Opening the letter the handwriting alerted him to the fact it was from Ranger;
"Paybacks a Bitch
….
You have a week to make it home"
'Crap, he thought 'where the hell am I?'