This is for Two Guns and a Knife who, for all her pestering keeps me motivated and sometimes throws the odd idea at me. She wanted to see my version of Steph being Late, so here it is.

Late

I smiled at the fresh, fluffy, chocolate brown towels that sat on the counter beside the sink when I entered the bathroom of the seventh floor apartment. It had been a little over eight months since Ranger and I had defined our relationship as an actual relationship and he'd asked me to move in with him. Of course I'd jumped at the opportunity. The seventh floor apartment on Haywood was far more comfortable than my own dinky little box, not to mention it came with Ranger and Ella.

Every morning, between Ranger leaving for his early gym session and seven o'clock when my alarm woke me, Ella slunk into the apartment, tidied anything that needed tidying, wiped down the counters in the kitchen and collected dishes from the previous evening's meal. She stowed special treats for me in the fridge or under the glass dome on the bench. And on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays she left clean towels. I hadn't quite worked out exactly when she changed the sheets, but they were always fresh, so I could only assume she had a monitor that she used to know when we were both out of the apartment so she could swoop in and change them once a week.

Running my hand over the towels, I glanced over the spotless, shining surfaces that comprised the bathroom, noting that she'd clearly cleaned the shower stall, since the toiletries we used had been put away. I bent to grab them from the cupboard under the sink and where I also found Ella's monthly care package. It had seemed creepy the first time the little basket of feminine hygiene products had appeared under the sink just in time for my menstruation, but I'd gotten used to it. Ranger's explanation that she liked taking care of me helped a lot to that end.

I smiled a little more at her thoughtfulness until I caught sight of the little note on top. Pulling it closer, I read it a few times, trying to understand what she'd meant.

Stephanie,

Have you changed preferences?

Ella.

Of course I hadn't changed preferences. What would make her think that? Shrugging it off, I proceeded with my shower and got ready for the day with enough time to spare to savour a chocolate glazed donut that had been left in on the counter, still in the bakery bag. I was licking chocolate off my fingers as I pressed the button for the elevator and my cell phone rang on my hip.

"Yo?" I greeted.

"Babe, where are you?"

"On my way down," I assured him. "I told you it was going to be a four out of five week."

"We'll hold the meeting till you get here then."

I grinned as I stepped onto the elevator. "I'm not even late, Ranger," I said. "Stop teasing."

"Maybe not yet, but by the time you reach the conference room you'll be at least two minutes late."

One Week Later...

I stumbled into the bathroom, the beeping of the alarm clock still ringing in my head. I felt like crap. I was nauseas, my head was throbbing and even the small amount of light that filtered through curtains in the bedroom caused excruciating pain to radiate through my temples.

I stripped Ranger's t-shirt off and tossed it in the direction of the hamper before starting the shower. As I waited for the water to heat up, I ran a comb through my hair in an effort to ease the shampoo aftermath, but found that even that action caused great discomfort. With the water beating down at just the right temperature, I stepped under the spray, fairly melting as steady stream massaged my a long moment I just stood there, allowing the water to ease my muscles before finally reaching for the Bvlgari and loofa that was normally on the little shelf with my shampoo and conditioner.

The shelf was empty.

With a groan, I staggered back out of the shower, dripping all over the place as I grappled with the cupboard handle in an effort to reach the toiletries Ella had tucked away there while she cleaned the shower. Finally managing to reef the door open, I snatched up the bottles and lobbed them through the open shower door. My hand had just landed on the loofa when I spotted the small basket of products, a note card sticking out just a little at the front.

With somewhat of a belated moment of realisation, I pulled the whole basket out and set it on the counter before gingerly plucking the little card out so as not to get water all over it.

Stephanie,

I thought maybe my calculations were off, or that you'd changed brand preferences, but I've double and triple checked my notes. There's a little something at the bottom of the basket you may need if you feel you're ready for that step.

Ella

P.S. You know you can call if you need anything.

I stared at the note for a full minute, the shower gushing hot water behind me, causing steam to rise and waft around me. My knuckles were white where I gripped the edge of the counter, somehow managing to keep myself upright as turmoil took over my mind. She couldn't possibly... I mean... I would know if I was...

Stealing my courage, I dug to the bottom of the basket and pulled out a box. All my efforts for staying standing were swept out from under me as my knees gave out fully. With my last bit of control over my legs, I directed myself so that I landed on the closed lid of the toilet staring at the box in my hand.

Pregnancy Test.

Was Ella right? Was my period late?

I lurched to my feet, grabbed a towel from the freshly laundered stack beside the basket on the counter and wrapped it around myself, securing it in the front with one hand as I turned the shower off with the other. Still dripping, but uncaring, I made my way to the kitchen where I'd dumped my handbag the previous evening, quickly rummaging through the contents for my planner. I flipped it open to the full year view where I could scan the markings I'd made over the last few months. Without fail there was a series of red dashes through the third week of each month.

Except last month.

I counted the weeks since my last lot of red dashes and groan once again. Seven weeks. No wonder Ella was leaving me notes. I can't believe I didn't notice. It was my body and Ella was apparently more in tune with it.

My first instinct was to call Ranger, but a glance at the clock showed that way more time had passed since I'd stumbled out of bed than I thought. It was now after nine o'clock. Damn. With trembling fingers I picked up my phone and typed a simple text.

I'm late.

The reply came a moment later Ranger's reply buzzed through: I know. Meeting started five minutes ago.

Yeah, okay, I guess that miscommunication is on me. Of course he would assume that's what I was referring to. I lightly banged my head against the countertop, acknowledging that it did nothing for my headache or the small amount of vertigo I was feeling, but it did give me something to do while I tried to think of how to tell him. Should I even tell him? Or was it better to wait until I had confirmation as to whether I was or was not pregnant? It was like asking me if I'd like to eat my left hand or my right hand!

Before I managed to pull an explanation from my raddled brain, another text buzzed in my hand.

Are you going to join us?

Without thinking, I typed my response into the phone and hit send. Be down soon.

Why? Why do I do these things to myself? I could have just said no, that I was having a bad morning and I'd be down once I'd run through the shower and was feeling more human. But no. I had to torture myself. With a sigh, I dropped the phone to the counter and made my way back to the bedroom and the wardrobe, selecting my usual black cargos but opting to pull on one of Ranger's t-shirts rather than my own. I was dressing for comfort today, and if anyone had a problem they could just shove it.

Ten minutes later, dressed and with my hair tamed into a rudimentary pony tail, I slid into the main conference room where we held the end of week meeting to a chorus of greetings from the assembled Merry Men. Lester, Bobby, Manny, Cal and Hal enthusiastically beckoned me to the table where they were all gathered, gesturing to the seat they'd reserved for me right next to Ranger. As I sank down into the chair, I sent both Ranger and Tank, who was standing at the front of the room by the projector screen, an apologetic look.

"Babe," Ranger murmured by my ear as he fingered the material of the baggy shirt I wore tucked into my cargo pants. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," I said quietly as the men settled down, refocusing on the large man with the stern expression. I tried my best to tune in to what Tank was saying as well, but Ranger's attention was almost solely focused on me.

"Your hair's damp, you have no makeup on at all, and you're wearing my shirt," he whispered as Tank droned on and on. "What's wrong?"

"Later," I said firmly, tilting my head to gesture to the men within hearing distance if they so chose to eavesdrop on the conversation. And I so did not want to have this conversation with an audience. Ranger either accepted that I wasn't going to talk right now, or his attention was stolen away by the meeting he was supposed to be running, because he said nothing more on the subject.

I breathed a sigh of relief as he drew the meeting to a close and everyone started gathering their things to leave. I, on the other hand, remained seated, waiting for the men to clear out so that I could maybe try and broach the topic of my nonexistent period for last month. The next thing I knew, however, Lester tugging me up from my chair, and attempting to lead me to the door.

"I've gotta talk to Ranger," I protested, pulling back on the hand he held tightly in his.

"You can talk to him later," Lester assured me over his shoulder, sending a pointed look in the direction of the man in question where he was engaged in conversation with Tank. His attention was on Tank, but his eyes were following me as I was dragged to the door.

"It's important, Les," I insisted, attempting to wrench my hand from his grasp. When that didn't work I met Ranger's gaze and tried to telegraph my apology to him across the room, letting him know that we'd talk as soon as Lester was done with me.

"We need your opinion on a case," Lester informed me, dragging me down the hall to the comm. room and into his cubicle. There he rooted through the files strewn across his desk and handed me one. "Have a read and tell me what you think. You can use my visitor's chair if you like."

With a sigh and an eye roll, I plopped down on his spare chair and commenced reading through the rather thick file while he fiddled with his computer and organised the other files into some semblance of an order. At one stage he left for a few minutes, returning with two cups of coffee from the break room and a plate of fresh cut fruit for us to share. I was nibbling on an apple while I looked over the last few pages in the folder, the morning's discovering completely driven from my mind for the time being, when my phone buzzed on my hip.

The readout showed Ranger's number causing everything to come flooding back to me.

"I'm in Lester's cubicle," I informed him, trying to sound helpful through the lump that had suddenly formed in my throat. "He needed an opinion on a case."

"Come up to seven, we need to talk," he replied, promptly hanging up in my ear.

Dread filled my stomach as I slowly rose from my chair and made my apologies to Lester, promising to come back and give him my view on the case as soon as I could. The elevator ride up to the seventh floor was intolerably slow, given my apprehensive state, but I eventually made it to the apartment to find Ranger pacing the living room.

"Ranger?" I said tentatively from the doorway.

His head snapped up immediately and his pacing halted as he locked eyes with me. "I came up to grab a file I'd forgotten," he explained in a voice so calm and quiet that I had to strain a little to hear him over the pounding of my heart. "While I was up here I went into the bathroom." Ranger took a deep breath and seemed to fight to keep his calm. "It was in complete disarray, which I'm not unused to, but on the counter next to you basket of girly thing was a... There's a..." he paused, swallowing hard. "You weren't referring to the meeting this morning, were you?" he questioned rather than try once more to name the thing he'd found in the bathroom.

"No," I said simply, unsure of what else I could say at this point. I had wanted to talk to him about it, but now I was at a loss for words.

"How late?" he asked, taking a step toward me, closing the gaping chasm of space that separated us.

"Three weeks."

"Have you..."

"No," I said, guessing at the rest of his question. "I only realised this morning. Ella figured it out before I did. She put the test in the bottom of the basket."

"How could Ella have known before you?" Ranger asked sounding incredulous.

I had to shrug as he came to a stop directly in front of me. "She must keep track of my cycle. How else would she know when to stock the cupboard with my supplies?"

"I thought they were just always in there," he said mildly. "Or that you put the basket together yourself."

I scoffed at that. "I don't do the pretty basket stuff, Ranger," I pointed out. "You should know that by now."

"You're right," he agreed. "I don't know what came over me. I guess the test box knocked me for six."

"Are you mad?" I found myself asking the toe of his boot, unable to meet his gaze for fear of what I might find there.

"Babe," he said, reaching out and pulling me into his embrace. "What would I be mad? Your period is late. You let me know as soon as you realised. I was just a little shocked. I wasn't expecting the box."

I pressed my cheek against his chest, wrapping my arms around his waist and breathing in his scent for strength and comfort. "What if I'm...?" I started.

"Then we'll deal with it," Ranger cut me off swiftly.

"Deal with it?" I questioned sharply, pulling my head back to stare up at him aghast. I couldn't believe he'd even suggested that! I thought he was pro-

"Relax, Babe," he said quickly. "I meant we'd find a way to handle whatever came our way. If that means a baby then so be it."

"Really?"

"Really," he said. "These things happen. I'm just glad it happened with me and not the cop. I wouldn't be held responsible for my actions if I found out you were carrying his child."

A startled laugh escaped my lips, though the show of mirth was at odds with the apprehension still curling in my belly. My hand slid down to rest on my flat stomach at that thought, wondering if it was possible something else entirely was curling in there. When Ranger's hand joined mine, twining our fingers together, my gaze shot up to meet his.

He leaned his head down, his lips a hair's width from my own when he spoke again. "If there's a life growing in there," he began, looking directly through my eyes to my soul. "We will take care of it. Together. I promise." And before I could so much as contemplate what he was promising me, our lips met and I was lost to the world. All that existed was Ranger's lips on mine as he slowly swept is tongue into my mouth. All of a sudden the world didn't seem so scary anymore.

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